United States v. Vaello Madero: Supreme Court Upholds Colonial Inequality (2022)

In United States v. Vaello Madero (2022), the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that Congress can exclude Puerto Rico residents from Supplemental Security Income (SSI) — a federal program that provides cash assistance to elderly, blind, and disabled Americans — because Puerto Rico is a territory, not a state.

The Case

José Luis Vaello Madero, a disabled man receiving SSI benefits while living in New York, moved to Puerto Rico in 2013. SSI benefits are not available in Puerto Rico. The government continued paying him by error until 2016, then demanded he repay $28,081 in 'overpayments.'

A federal district court ruled the exclusion unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause. The First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court reversed.

The Ruling

Justice Kavanaugh, writing for the 8-1 majority, held that:
1. Congress has broad authority under the Territorial Clause to treat territories differently from states
2. The exclusion of Puerto Rico from SSI is 'rationally related' to the fact that Puerto Ricans do not pay federal income tax
3. The different treatment does not violate the Equal Protection component of the Fifth Amendment

Justice Sotomayor's Dissent

Justice Sotomayor — the Court's first Latina justice and of Puerto Rican descent — wrote a powerful dissent:

"Because residents of Puerto Rico do not have voting representation in Congress, they cannot rely on the democratic process to override the majority's decision to deny them benefits available to similarly situated U.S. citizens in the States."

She explicitly connected the decision to the Insular Cases:

"The Constitution does not tolerate this kind of discrimination... A century ago, in the Insular Cases, this Court held that the Constitution did not fully apply to territories... The flaws of the Insular Cases, and the్ racist reasoning of the era that produced them, have long been widely acknowledged."

Significance

Vaello Madero is the most recent Supreme Court decision to uphold the colonial framework established by the Insular Cases. It confirmed that:
- U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico have fewer rights than U.S. citizens in any state
- Congress can exclude Puerto Rico from federal benefit programs
- The justification — that Puerto Ricans don't pay federal income tax — ignores that Puerto Ricans can't vote for the Congress that sets their tax obligations
- The Insular Cases' colonial framework remains the law of the land

The decision means that elderly, blind, and disabled Puerto Ricans receive no SSI benefits — while identical citizens who move to any U.S. state immediately qualify. The colonial border creates a welfare cliff that punishes Puerto Ricans for living in Puerto Rico.