Insular Cases are several U. S. Supreme Court cases decided early in the 20th century. The cases were in essence the court's response to a major issue of the U.S. presidential election, 1900 and the American Anti-Imperialist League, summarized by the phrase "Does the Constitution follow the flag?"

In 1898, the United States annexed Hawaii. In 1898, the Treaty of Paris ended the Spanish American War and the United States gained the islands of the Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Guam. At the time, there was a debate on how to govern these new territories since nothing was said about it in the U.S. Constitution. In the Insular (i.e. Island-related) Cases, the Supreme Court of the United States established the framework for applying the Constitution to these islands. In summary, the Supreme Court said that full constitutional rights did not automatically extend to all areas under American control.

List of Insular Cases

There is no authoritative list of Insular Cases; the term at a minimum applies to several 1901 cases but certain later decisions are sometimes also included:

• DeLima v. Bidwell , 182 U.S. 1 (1901)
• Goetze v. United States , 182 U.S. 221 (1901)
• Armstrong v. United States , 182 U.S. 243 (1901)
• Downes v. Bidwell, 182 U.S. 244 (1901)
• Huus v. New York & Porto Rico S.S. Co. , 182 U.S. 392 (1901)
• Dooley v. United States , 183 U.S. 151 (1901)
• Fourteen Diamond Rings v. United States , 183 U.S. 176 (1901)
• Hawaii v. Manikichi , 190 U.S. 197 (1903)
• Kepner v. United States , 195 U.S. 100 (1904)
• Dorr v. United States , 195 U.S. 138 (1904)
• Rasmussen v. United States , 197 U.S. 516 (1905)
• Dowdell v. United States , 221 U.S. 325 (1911)
• Ocampo v. United States , 234 U.S. 91 (1914)
• Balzac v. Porto Rico, 258 U.S. 298 (1922)

See also

• Insular areas, Guano Islands Act

External link and primary source

• A lawyer's website on Island Law