Puerto Rico is an “unincorporated territory” of the United States which according to the United States Supreme Court is “a territory appurtenant and belonging to the United States, but not a part of the United States.” Puerto Rico is subject to the Congress’ plenary powers under the “territorial clause” of Article IV, sec. 3, of the U.S. Constitution. United States federal law is applicable to Puerto Rico, even though Puerto Rico is not a state of the American Union and has no voting representative in the United States Congress.
Due to the establishment of the Federal Relations Act of 1950 all federal laws that are “not locally inapplicable” are automatically the law of the land in Puerto Rico.
