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ABSTRACT
In Sanchez v. Kalauokalani (1917), the Supreme Court of the Territory of Hawai'i held that Manuel Olivieri Sánchez and Hawaii's Puerto Ricans became U.S. citizens pursuant to the Jones Act. Centering on Sanchez and its aftermath, this essay investigates their fi ght for U.S. citizenship-both its attainment and the realization of the supposed benefits of that citizenship-in the face of laws and policies that legitimized unequal treatment. Drawing on critical theory insights, it explores how HawaiTs Puerto Ricans held both a deep criticism of law as a tool of the powerful, as well as a transformative vision of law as a vehicle to validate their place in the U.S. polity. Embracing a "double consciousness" about law and rights assertion, Hawaii's Puerto Ricans fought for legal rights in Sanchez, but recognized that U.S. citizenship would not mean immediate freedom from discriminatory treatment. They therefore pushed for the attendant rights of that citizenship, and against cultural vilification and inferior treatment in their daily lives. In doing so, they sought to compel powerful actors and institutions to recognize their humanity and dignity. [Key words: Puerto Ricans, Hawai'i, law, citizenship, double consciousness, Sanchez v Kalauokalani]
I.INTRODUCTION
Only weeks after the passage of the Jones Act-which in 1917 collectively naturalized "citizens of Puerto Rico" as U.S. citizens-Manuel Olivieri Sánchez, a Puerto Rican residing in the Territory of Hawai'i, traveled to the Honolulu county clerk's office to register to vote in the upcoming Hawai'i elections. David Kalauokalani, the county clerk, refused to place Olivieri Sánchez's name on the great register of voters. The clerk admitted that Olivieri Sánchez "[was] a [U.S.] citizen according to the cable which came from Washington," but he claimed that "I don't know anything officially, and I must hear from the Governor, and he must issue a proclamation."1 Across the territory, Puerto Ricans who attempted to register to vote were turned away (Carr 1989, 235).
Olivieri Sánchez fought back. He filed a writ of mandamus to compel the clerk to register him and other Puerto Rican residents. In the first and only case to rule upon the citizenship of Puerto Ricans in Hawai'i following the Jones Act, the lower court ruled that Olivieri Sánchez did not become a U.S. citizen upon the Act's passage. According...