The question of the political relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States will arise again High Council when the maximum court responds to a claim about the applicability of the benefit of the Supplementary Social Security (SSI, for the abbreviation in English) for the inhabitants of the island.
This morning, the Federal Supreme Court has appealed certiorari in the case of adopted United States vs Vaello-Madero that debates the benefit to Puerto Ricans on the island.
The board of the former president of the United States Donald Trump had brought the lawsuit to the Supreme Court, after the Boston Circuit of Appeals and the Federal District Court found that the benefit applied to Puerto Ricans on the island.It is estimated that if SSI is applied in Puerto Rico, the impact would be about $ 2,000 million. The current president’s government, Joe Biden, did not withdraw from the case.
Immediately, the reactions of the politicians in the courtyard begin to register on social networks:
The United States Supreme Court has just accepted the certiorari of Vaello’s Supplementary Social Security (SSI) case, in which I went as a friend of the court! They will look at the case on its merits! #encaminoalaigualdad
– Jenniffer González (@ Jenniffer2012) March 1, 2021
Discussion of Puerto Rico’s political / legal situation 🇵🇷 with the United States 🇺🇸 returns to the federal Supreme Court. They issued the certiorari in the Vaello case, in which the District and Appeals Tribune found it unconstitutional to discriminate in the SSI.
– Aníbal Acevedo Vilá (@anibalacevedo) March 1, 2021
The lawsuit was initially filed by the United States government in a redressive action against Jose Luis Vaello Madero
He lived in New York from 1985 to 2013, where he received disability benefits. Later, the man moved to Puerto Rico in 2013, but continued to receive the Social Security deposit in his New York bank account until 2016. dismissal from it.
The United States government has requested that the case be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, arguing that there are still administrative procedures that could exhaust Vaello-Madero, but the judge Gustavo Gelpí denied that dismissal request and the Boston Court of Appeals later upheld the decision.
Before the first circuit was established, the local government presented itself as a friend of the short. At the time the governor Wanda Vazquez GarcedWithin weeks of being promoted to an executive position, she said the plan to abolish Puerto Ricans’ rights was discriminatory.
The Circuit of Appeals concluded that “the exclusion of residents of Puerto Rico (on the right to additional security) is not rationally related to a government interest.” The Boston case was heard by the judges Juan Torruella Jeffrey Howard Y Ojetta Rogeriee Thompson
Then the Trump administration turned to the Supreme Court.
The designated Secretary of the Department of Justice of Puerto Rico, Domingo Emanuelli, indicated in a press conference that it is the Attorney General of the government, Fernando Figueroa Santiago, who is responsible for representing the interests of the state before the Supreme Court.
“Clearly, the Puerto Rico government is interested in enforcing the First Circuit of Boston decision, but it will depend on what the Supreme Court decides,” Emanuelli said.
“The one intervening is the Attorney General of Justice, his office is here, we are working together, but he is an officer appointed by the governor and I am an officer appointed by the governor. I can’t speak for what he might think. He has complete autonomy, ”explained the head of justice.
During his campaign, President Biden insisted that his government defend the granting of SSI to residents of Puerto Rico, an element that figures such as the governor have highlighted. Pedro Pierluisi and the chairman of the House of Representatives, Rafael “Tatito” Hernández
However, the Biden administration, which has been in place since January 20, has taken no action to withdraw the case submitted to the United States Supreme Court.
Here you can watch the US government’s appeal to the Supreme Court, which will now be judged on its merits:
Vaello Madero Pet by metro in Puerto Rico
The United States government made an argument of violation of the clause guaranteeing the equal protection of the laws. It was stated that “Congress has a legitimate interest in avoiding a one-sided tax relationship where Puerto Rico shares the financial benefits but not the financial burden of a state, and that refusing to include Puerto Rico in the SSI. program a rational form of progress is that interest ”.
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