American Bar Association designates US territories as 'a single state'
- Admin
- 5 minutes ago
- 3 min read
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
The American Bar Association has amended the status of U.S. territories within the organization, lumping them together into “a single state” and giving them a seat in its governing body and policymaking chamber.
By a two-thirds majority vote, the ABA House of Delegates adopted a resolution amending the national bar’s Constitution to elevate the standing of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands, allowing them full participation with “a true voice in the operations of the association.”
In a joint statement, the bar associations of Guam, the CNMI and the Virgin Islands described the delegates' action as a “historic milestone.”
“It sends a clear message that lawyers from the Virgin Islands and Pacific territories are integral to the American legal community and will no longer be without a voice at the table,” the statement reads.
The policymaking body adopted the resolution during ABA's annual meeting held earlier this month in Toronto, Canada.
The resolution was introduced by Anthony Ciolli, past president of the Virgin Islands Bar Association, who earlier wrote an essay lamenting the U.S. territories’ second-class status and lack of representation within the legal organization.
Within the U.S. political system itself, the U.S. territories have limited rights and privileges. They don't get to vote in presidential elections and their congressional delegates have no voting power on the floor.
“Yet much like the United States in denying constitutional rights, social welfare
programs, or a path to statehood to the territories, the ABA has historically rejected—and continues to exclude—entire swaths of the legal profession,” Ciolli writes in an essay published in February in the Yale Law Journal.
The ABA is the world's largest organization for lawyers, judges and others associated with the legal profession. According to a Reuters report, the ABA has about 150,000 paying members as of early 2025. Other sources cite figures closer to 400,000 members, including non-paying members and associates.
The resolution states that Guam, the CNMI, and American Samoa “shall be treated collectively as a single state for purposes of representation on the Board of Governors.”
For the state delegate, the ABA designates the U.S. Pacific territories in the same group as the U.S. Virgin Islands, “effectively treating them as if they are in a four-state seat.”
A report attached to the resolution noted that the Pacific U.S. territories’ combined lawyer population nearly equals that of the U.S. Virgin Islands, the largest unrepresented territory.
“The U.S. Virgin Islands and the U.S. Pacific territories have done their part to earn a seat at the table,” Ciolli said at the ABA House of Delegates meeting. “The support and encouragement we have received from all corners of the ABA has been humbling.”
The bar associations noted that the territories first petitioned the ABA House of Delegates for representation nearly 40 years ago.
In his essay, Ciolli said the ABA had a long history of building “barriers designed
to reduce the number of minorities in the legal profession,” since its inception in 1878 when “a select group of Anglo-Saxon lawyers” met in Saratoga, New York, to form the ABA.
“This amendment ensures that for the first time, lawyers in these jurisdictions will not only continue to hold delegate seats but will also have full participation rights,” they said in a joint statement.
In a speech before the vote, Jacqueline Taitano Terlaje, president of the Guam Bar Association, urged the House of Delegates “to lead by example and give the U.S. territories a voice in the governance of this body.”
The attached report acknowledged that the marginalization of lawyers from U.S. territories “is inconsistent not just with the mission and goals of the association, but contrary to the practices of other national legal organizations."
“For our bar associations, this victory ensures that our voices will be heard,” reads the joint statement, which credits Ciolli “for his tireless efforts and leadership in advancing this resolution.”
Puerto Rico, another U.S. territory, achieved a “state” status by default in 1959 after the ABA dissolved a “territorial group” in which it belonged.
The dissolved state seat included Alaska, which had become a state; the Philippines, which became an independent country; and the Canal Zone, which stopped participating in the organization.
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