Insular Cases

The 1901 Supreme Court case DeLima v. Bidwell marked the first of the Insular Cases. The dispute originated when the DeLima Sugar Importing Company contested the import taxes on sugar shipped from Puerto Rico to New York. The company argued that since Puerto Rico was transferred to U.S. control in…

The case of Downes v. Bidwell began in the U.S. Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York. Merchant Samuel Downes contested the constitutionality of tariffs levied on goods from Puerto Rico under the Foraker Act. He claimed these duties violated the Constitution’s Uniformity Clause. The…

Balzac v. Porto Rico was a U.S. Supreme Court case that held that the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial does not apply in unincorporated U.S. territories. Jesús M. Balzac, a newspaper editor, was convicted of criminal libel and denied a jury trial under local law despite being a U.S. citizen…