From Scenarios to Networks

What Does Puerto Rican Citizenship Mean for Puerto Rico's Legal Status?

“…35 But as Cabranes notes, "the citizenship that was granted was not complete," and the "very word 'citizenship' suggested equality of rights and privileges and full membership in the American political community, thereby obscuring the colonial relationship between a great metropolitan state and a poor overseas dependency." 36 Cabranes concludes that "[b]y extending United States citizenship to the Puerto Ricans after promising independence to the Filipinos, Congress intended to do little more than proclaim the permanence of Puerto Rico's political links with the United States." 37 Some, however, interpreted the signals differently, and thought that statehood would follow citizenship.…”