united-states us-supreme-court puerto-rico
Why the same-sex marriage Supreme Court decision applies also to Puerto Rico when the Fourteen Amendment does not apply to territories?
<p>This is in relation to a comment on <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/855/are-limiting-voting-rights-to-residents-of-puerto-rico-unconstitutional">this</a> question that I also made.</p>

<p>In one of the comments, one of the users made this statement:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>The Fourteenth Amendment talks about states (and Puerto Rico is not one), not about the federal government. "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States</p>
</blockquote>

<p>While I agreed with him, this brought me to another question: if the Fourteen Amendment only applies to states, why the same-sex marriage decision from Supreme Court applies also to Puerto Rico, when this decision was based on the Fourteen Amendment?</p>

<p><strong>Please note: I am not trying to argue about the decision of same-sex marriage, what I am trying to figure it out is why a decision made based on the unconstitutionality of an amendment that does not cover Puerto Rico still applies to Puerto Rico.</strong> </p>

<p>The Due Process Clause and Equal Protection Clause apply to Puerto Rico.</p>

<p>See <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/442/465/case.html"><em>Torres v. Puerto Rico</em> 442 U.S. 465 (1979)</a> (internal citations removed):</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>[t]his Court has held or otherwise indicated that Puerto Rico is subject to the First Amendment Speech Clause, the Due Process Clause of either the Fifth or the Fourteenth Amendment, and the equal protection guarantee of either the Fifth or the Fourteenth Amendment.</p>
</blockquote>
