Suit: Rule ‘devastating’ Puerto Rico
Seeks relief from Jones Act
A Bay State lawyer with deep ties to Puerto Rico is suing the Trump administration, arguing that a federal law that enables shipping restrictions is crippling the hurricane-ravaged island and is unconstitutional.
“This is not a political thing. It’s that Puerto Ricans are being treated as secondclass citizens, and I needed to do something,” said Carmenelisa Perez-Kudzma, the attorney who brought the suit on behalf of herself, and her family and friends who were born in Puerto Rico.
The suit, which was filed this week in Boston’s federal court, argues that the Jones Act is unconstitutional as it applies to Puerto Rico. The law prohibits foreignflagged ships from ferrying goods between U.S. ports.
It has had a “devastating” effect on the island as its residents try to rebuild on the heels of Hurricane Maria’s destruction, according to the suit.
“The Jones Act’s shipping restrictions as they relate to Puerto Rico discriminates against Plaintiffs by exacerbating already-dangerous living and working conditions, the consequences of which will be irreversible and catastrophic in Plaintiffs’ lifetimes and in their children’s lifetimes,” Perez-Kudzma wrote in her pitch to U.S. District Court Judge George A. O’Toole Jr.
In the face of growing bipartisan pressure, President Donald Trump granted a 10day waiver of the Jones Act for Puerto Rico last week in the hopes that the reprieve would allow supplies to get to the island at a lower cost and much more quickly.
But the duration of the waiver isn’t long enough, according to Perez-Kudzma, who argues in her suit that it should remain in place until “Puerto Rico is deemed to have recovered from the catastrophe caused by Hurricane Maria.”
She also argues that Trump has made conflicting and confusing statements through the ordeal — citing multiple tweets and interviews. The suit claims that the administration’s inaction, and potential for its waiver to be lifted, “endangers and infringes on Plaintiffs’ lives, liberties, and property.”
The suit is unique, but the president has broad authority when it comes to granting waivers of the Jones Act, according to Jonathan M. Gutoff, a maritime law professor at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island.
“Decisions to waive the Jones Act are based on issues of national defense,” he said. “And those decisions are generally understood to be within the domain of the president in his capacity as commander in chief. There are cases that say decisions to waive the Jones Act are unreviewable.”
Representatives from the Department of Justice did not respond to requests for comment last night.
Perez-Kudzma, who mentions in the suit that she is a lifelong Republican, says the Trump administration has treated Puerto Rico differently than Florida and Texas on the heels of this summer’s rash of natural disasters.
That, she says, is a constitutional issue.
“These actions are evidence of unequal and discriminatory treatment of Puerto Rico due to Spanish origin and potentially race,” she wrote. “These actions are also repugnant to the U.S. Constitution and humanity at large.”