Nonpartisan civic infrastructure
AllCiv·Legis1
·

48 U.S.C. § 2

U.S. CodeFederal
About This Law
pg_id_58184::119-84
Title
48 — Territories and Insular Possessions
Chapter
CH12
Release
119-84
Release Date
2026-04-17

Section Text

Highlight any text to annotate
[Constitutional conventions and draft provisions] (a) The Legislatures of the Virgin Islands and Guam, respectively, are authorized to call constitutional conventions to draft, within the existing territorial-Federal relationship, constitutions for the local self-government of the people of the Virgin Islands and Guam.“(b) Such constitutions shall—“(1) recognize, and be consistent with, the sovereignty of the United States over the Virgin Islands and Guam, respectively, and the supremacy of the provisions of the Constitution, treaties, and laws of the United States applicable to the Virgin Islands and Guam, respectively, including, but not limited to, those provisions of the Organic Act [section 1405 et seq. of this title] and Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands [this chapter] and the Organic Act of Guam [section 1421 et seq. of this title] which do not relate to local self-government. “(2) provide for a republican form of government, consisting of three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial; “(3) contain a bill of rights; “(4) deal with the subject matter of those provisions of the Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands of 1954, as amended, and the Organic Act of Guam, as amended, respectively, which relate to local self-government; “(5) with reference to Guam, provided that the voting franchise may be vested only in residents of Guam who are citizens of the United States; “(6) provide for a system of local courts consistent with the provisions of the Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands, as amended; and “(7) provide for the establishment of a system of local courts the provisions of which shall become effective no sooner than upon the enactment of legislation regulating the relationship between the local courts of Guam with the Federal judicial system.

Take Action

Your position
Add a comment
to comment on this section.
Annotate the text
Highlight any passage on the Full Text tab to attach a note. Annotations appear on the Annotations tab.