In October 2024, the High Court of American Samoa, an unincorporated territory of the United States, issued a staggering ruling that received little media attention.The justices ruled that, since American Samoa is unincorporated, the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms does not apply there.
The ruling allowed a near-total gun ban to take effect.President Donald Trump and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum can and must reverse this immediately.The issue of territories is obscure, so some background is helpful.
The United States has 50 states and several territories, including Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S.Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa.
The District of Columbia also is not a state; however, unlike the other territories, it receives three electoral votes for the presidency pursuant to the 23rd Amendment.None of these territories receives voting representation in Congress, though delegates from the territories can sit on congressional committees and, for instance, serve as managers for the House during a Senate impeachment trial.A man draws a Glock .45 from an inside-the-waistband holster under his leather jacket.
Under Hawaii's new concealed carry rules, law-abiding gun owners cannot bring firearms to privately owned property that is open to the public without express permission to do so.(iStock)These territories generally have courts, such as the U.S.
District Court for the District of Puerto Rico and the U.S.District Court for the District of the Virgin Islands.
Presidents nominate judges to these courts, and the Senate confirms them.As Article IV judges, those on these courts serve with a tenure of 10 years, and litigants may appeal their rulings through the relevant circuits.
When territories violate constitutional rights, individual litigants or the Justice Department can sue them in federal court.President Trump's Justice Department did precisely that last year, accusing the U.S.
Virgin Islands of enacting gun re...