U.S. Virgin Islands delegate criticizes nonvoting status on House floor

Editor's note: This essay was first published on the author's blog: Res ipsa loquitur – The thing itself speaks.

"This body and this nation has [sic] a territories and a colonies problem." Those words from Del. Stacey Plaskett echoed in the House chamber this week as the delegate interrupted the election of the House speaker to demand voting rights for herself and the representatives of other non-states. The problem, however, is not with the House, but with Plaskett and other members in demanding the violation of Article I of the Constitution.

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After her election in 2015, Plaskett has often shown a certain disregard for constitutional principles and protections. Despite being a lawyer, Plaskett has insisted in Congress that hate speech is not constitutionally protected, a demonstrably false assertion. Where there is overwhelming evidence of a censorship system that a court called "Orwellian," Plaskett has repeatedly denied the evidence presented before her committee.  When a journalist testified on the evidence of that censorship system, Plaskett suggested his possible arrest. (Plaskett suggested that respected journalist journalist Matt Taibbi had committed perjury due to an error that he made, not in testimony but in a tweet that he later corrected).

However, ignoring the free speech or free press values pales in comparison to what Plaskett was suggesting this week in nullifying critical language in Article I.

Article I, Section 2, states:

"The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch in the States Legislature."

The ability to vote in the House is expressly limited to the elected representatives of "the several states."

Nevertheless, as the vote was being taken on the eventual election of Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.), Plaskett rose to demand recognition and to know why she was not allowed to vote:

"I note that........

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