Island authorities are reacting to the judicial forum's announcement, which relates to a program that could have an impact of close to $1.8 billion annually.
monday, march 1, 2021 - 10:50 a.m.
https://www.elnuevodia.com/corresponsalias/washington-dc/notas/el-tribunal-supremo-de-estados-unidos-revisara-el-caso-de-la-seguridad-de-ingreso-suplementario-para-puerto-rico/
Washington D. C. - The U.S . Supreme Court today agreed to review, as requested by the Donald Trump administration, the decision that opens the door for residents of Puerto Rico to access Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits.
After having the issue on the agenda since November, the highest judicial forum in the United States announced its decision this morning.
"This is Joe Biden's first litmus test with respect to the promises he made to Puerto Ricans," said Professor Rafael Cox Alomar of the University of the District of Columbia School of Law, noting that the president had questioned the Donald Trump administration's decision to challenge the First Circuit federal appeals court's ruling that it is unconstitutional to exclude island residents from SSI.
Then-U.S. Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall last August asked the Supreme Court justices to reverse the First Circuit's decision that found that the exclusion of Puerto Rico residents from the SSI program - which could have a nearly $1.8 billion annual impact on the island - violates the equal protection of the laws.
When filing the petition for certiorari allowing the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether or not to review the First Circuit's decision, Wall asserted that "Congress has a legitimate interest in avoiding a unilateral fiscal relationship under which Puerto Rico shares the financial benefits, but not the financial burden of statehood, and declining to include Puerto Rico in the SSI program is a rational way to advance that interest."
The appeals court decision - which was written by the recently deceased Puerto Rican judge Juan Torruella - then upheld the determination of District Judge Gustavo Gelpí who concluded that José Luis Vaello Madero, who began receiving SSI as a New York resident, does not have to return $28,081 that he collected at a time when his domicile was already in Puerto Rico.
Without a rational basis and legitimate government interest, "the exclusion of Puerto Rico residents is declared invalid," Torruella then concluded, in an opinion joined by his colleagues Jeffrey Howard, presiding judge, and O. Rogeriee Thompson.
The U.S. government has insisted that the Puerto Rican government should not have access to these programs because of the general non-payment of federal income taxes, the cost to the Treasury, and the argument that their continued existence on the island could cause a disruption in the Puerto Rican economy.
"Puerto Rico contributes some money to the federal Treasury, but less than it would if it were a state. In return, it receives some money from the federal treasury, but again, less than it would if it were a state. Congress' decision not to extend the SSI program to Puerto Rico is simply one part of that broader fiscal arrangement," Wall added in his final written argument on November 24.
Meanwhile, Vaello Madero's lead attorney, Hermann Ferré, maintained last November 9, in his argument, that "any concerns about the possible effects of the decision on the public fisc can be more appropriately and equitably addressed by Congress or the Social Security Administration."
Cox Alomar argued that President Biden "has no power to order Social Security to pay Vaello (along with those similarly situated to him) SSI during his residence in Puerto Rico," as the power to allocate new funds rests with Congress.
"Beyond instructing the Department of Justice (whose Secretary-designate Merrick Garland has not yet been confirmed by the Senate) not to oppose Vaello's constitutional claims in the Supreme Court, President Biden has no power to order Social Security to pay Vaello (along with those similarly situated to him) Supplemental Security Income during his residency in Puerto Rico," he added.
In that sense, he doubted that Biden would order the Social Security Administration to abide by the First Circuit's decision, "in which for practical purposes Califano v. Torres (1978) and Harris v. Rosario (1980) were overturned". "Here what we see in the sky is a possible reversal of the Circuit and the perpetuation of the unequal treatment of Puerto Rico," said Cox Alomar.
What did Biden think during the campaign?
As a presidential candidate, Biden, in response to the Trump administration's challenge to the First Circuit Court of Appeals decision, stated that "time and time again, the president has refused to provide Puerto Rico with much-needed resources." In a tweet in response to an El Nuevo Dia news story, Biden indicated in September 2020 that under his administration, that would end.
Island authorities and leaders of the New Progressive Party (NPP) and Popular Democratic Party (PDP) had asked Biden to withdraw the impeachment case, which did not happen.
In contrast, the Biden administration maintained last Thursday the same position of the Trump administration in another case, in which a federal judge William Young, assigned to the Federal Court in San Juan, also determined the unconstitutionality of the exclusion of Puerto Rico from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the SSI and the Low Income Subsidy (LIS) to acquire prescription drugs through Medicare Part D.
The decision by Young, who was assigned to the Federal Court in San Juan but is from the District of Massachusetts, ordered immediate access to SNAP, SSI and LIS programs for nine plaintiffs in the Peña Martinez v. Department of Health case.
Pedro Pierluisi, however, said in a tweet that it is positive that the U.S. Supreme Court will review the Vaello Madero decision. He then said he hoped that the highest U.S. judicial forum "puts an end to the discrimination suffered by U.S. citizens residing in Puerto Rico" regarding SSI.