Supreme Court Looks at Puerto Rico’s Status in Case on Benefits

U.S.|Supreme Court Looks astatine Puerto Rico’s Status successful Case connected Benefits

WASHINGTON — The contiguous question for the Supreme Court justices astatine an statement connected Tuesday was whether Congress was escaped to exclude residents of Puerto Rico from a Social Security programme that provides monthly currency payments to older, unsighted and disabled radical who cannot enactment themselves.

Looming implicit that question was the larger contented of Puerto Rico’s presumption arsenic a territory, not a state. Its residents are U.S. citizens but cannot ballot successful national elections and mostly bash not wage national income taxes. Much of the statement acrophobic the implications of those facts for treating recipients of Social Security benefits otherwise depending connected wherever they live.

The benefits, called Supplemental Security Income, are disposable to U.S. citizens successful the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the Northern Mariana Islands, but not successful Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, whose parents were from Puerto Rico, said that was fundamentally unfair.

“Puerto Ricans are citizens, and the Constitution applies to them,” she said. “Their needy radical are being treated antithetic than the needy radical successful the 50 states.”

The case, United States v. Vaello-Madero, No. 20-303, acrophobic Jose Luis Vaello-Madero, a disabled antheral who received the benefits erstwhile helium lived successful New York and continued to get them aft helium moved to Puerto Rico successful 2013. When the Social Security Administration became alert of the move, it sought repayment of the benefits Mr. Vaello-Madero had received since then, yet suing him for astir $28,000.

Mr. Vaello-Madero said the instrumentality violated his close to adjacent protection, winning successful the little courts.

President Biden said successful June that excluding Puerto Rico from the programme was “inconsistent with my administration’s policies and values” and called connected Congress to code the matter.

On Tuesday, though, the Justice Department defended the instrumentality successful the Supreme Court.

Curtis E. Gannon, a lawyer for the national government, said that Congress had made a rational prime successful excluding Puerto Rico fixed its residents’ wide exemption from paying national income taxes.

Hermann Ferré, a lawyer for Mr. Vaello-Madero, said determination should beryllium azygous standards for authorities benefits and noted that Puerto Rico’s residents deficiency governmental power.