Puerto Rico and the Right of Accession

On June 11, 2017, Puerto Rico held a referendum regarding its legal status. Although the circumstances were complex and turnout was very low, ninety-seven percent of ballots favored statehood over independence or the status quo. The federal government, however, has financial and political reasons to resist such a preference. Puerto Rico would bring with it not only a massive, unpayable debt, but also the potential to swing the balance of partisan power in Congress. The tension between Puerto Rico's possible desire to pull closer to the mainland and Congress's presumptive desire to hold it at arm's length raises at least two important legal questions: Could Congress expel Puerto Rico by giving it "independence" against its will? Conversely, do the people of Puerto Rico have a right of "accession" to statehood? The answers are not obvious. International law, we argue, suggests that the people of Puerto Rico have a legal right to determine their own status vis-à-vis the mainland. Whether domestic law protects the same right to self-determination is a more difficult question.