The highest judicial forum issued a certiorari this morning.
By Metro Puerto Rico Monday, March 01, 2021, at 11:03 am
The issue of the political relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States will once again be before the federal Supreme Court when the highest judicial forum hears a claim regarding the applicability of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefit for residents of the island.
This morning, the federal Supreme Court granted a writ of certiorari in the case of United States v. Vaello-Madero, which debates the benefit to Puerto Ricans on the island.
The administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump had elevated the lawsuit to the Supreme Court, after the Boston Circuit Court of Appeals and the Federal District Court determined that the benefit applied to Puerto Ricans on the island. It is estimated that if SSI were applied in Puerto Rico, the impact would be about $2 billion. The administration of current President Joe Biden did not drop the case.
Immediately the reactions of the politicians of the yard have begun to be registered in the social networks.
The lawsuit was initially filed by the U.S. government in a collection action against José Luis Vaello Madero.
He lived in New York from 1985 to 2013, where he received SSI disability benefits. The man then moved to Puerto Rico in 2013, but was still receiving the Social Security deposit in his New York bank account until 2016. The U.S. government initiated a collection action against him in federal district court, but later moved to dismiss the action.
The U.S. government moved to dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction, arguing that there were still administrative proceedings that Vaello-Madero could exhaust, but Judge Gustavo Gelpí denied that motion to dismiss and the Court of Appeals in Boston later affirmed.
Prior to the First Circuit's determination, the local government presented itself as a friend of the short film. At that time, Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced, just weeks after being promoted to the executive office, expressed that the intention to remove the right to Puerto Ricans was discriminatory.
The Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that "the exclusion of Puerto Rico residents (from entitlement to Supplemental Security Income) is not rationally related to a governmental interest. The Boston case was heard by Judges Juan Torruella, Jeffrey Howard and Ojetta Rogeriee Thompson.
The Trump administration then appealed to the Supreme Court.
The designated secretary of the Puerto Rico Department of Justice, Domingo Emanuelli, indicated in a press conference that it is the government's attorney general, Fernando Figueroa Santiago, who is responsible for representing the interests of the State before the Supreme Court.
"Obviously it is in the interest of the Puerto Rico government to uphold the decision of the First Circuit in Boston, but it will depend on what the Supreme Court decides," Emanuelli said.
"Who intervenes is the Attorney General of Justice, his office is here, we work together, but he is an official appointed by the governor and I am an official appointed by the governor. I cannot speak for what he may think. He has complete autonomy", clarified the Attorney General.
During his campaign, President Biden insisted that his administration would defend the SSI grant for Puerto Rico residents, an element that has been emphasized by figures such as Governor Pedro Pierluisi and House Speaker Rafael "Tatito" Hernández.
The Biden administration, installed since January 20, however, did not take action to withdraw the case filed with the U.S. Supreme Court.