liberties and military rule, Virgin Islands Islanders have persisted in confronting
perceived inequities in their relationship with the United States.11 Only in recent
years, however, has attention turned on the need to present to the residents of the
islands the full range of political relationships available to them, and to arrange a
popular vote among these choices that is, an act of self-determination.

 The first of these recent efforts to examine the political status issue was
 embodied in Act 4462 of 1980. It was enacted at a time when active efforts were
 underway to draft and approve a constitution for the Virgin Islands. Under a 1976 law
 passed by Congress (PL 94-584), the people of the islands were authorized to
 formulate their own constitution to replace the 1954 Organic Act. However, the area of
 federal relations was excluded from the scope of this authority and the final product
 was subject to Congressional agreement.12 Draft constitutions were submitted for
 popular approval in referenda held in 1979 and 1981, but failed to gain majority
 support. In the course of their deliberations, however, both constitutional conventions
 established federal relations committees to examine outstanding issues and make
 recommendations for action, even though a federal relations section could not be
 included in the proposed constitutions. In that way, the issue of the nature of the
 relationship with the United States was raised and helped influence the decision to
 form the first Virgin Islands Status Commission.

 Law 4462 provided a seventeen member Commission with members appointed
 by the Governor and the Senate President. As a reflection of the recent constitutional
 convention activity on federal relations issues, both the President of the Fourth
 Constitutional Convention and the Chairman of its Federal Territorial Relations
 Committee served as ex officio members. The Commission was chaired by the Chief
 Judge of the Territorial Court.

 The tasks of the Commission were to examine the status options available,
conduct public hearings and solicit views on them, consult with the federal government
on which options were likely to be acceptable to Washington, and then make a final
report. In its report, the Commission was to recommend a specific status choice which
would then be subject to a "yes no" popular vote. If the vote was favorable, this
choice would become the Virgin Islands' official position for the purpose of
negotiations with the federal government.

 There are several aspects of the legislation that should be noted. The first is
that significant restrictions were placed on the public's participation in the process.
The Commission itself was appointed, not elected. The choice of status would be
greatly determined by the Commission as well, as the only popular vote would be to
approve or disapprove its recommendation. The federal role would be considerable,
since Washington would be consulted regarding what statuses were likely to be
acceptable. There was no mention of the principle of self-determination and its
implications for the selection of a status.


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