Status verified as of 22 September 2026. Political positions change; this explainer describes the documented position on that date.
Current position
Guam remains an unincorporated territory of the United States. No legally binding plebiscite on Guam's political status has been completed, and the plebiscite as configured under the 2000 Plebiscite Law remains permanently enjoined following the 2019-2020 Davis v. Guam litigation.[1]
Sources for this page
Each number marks a specific claim. Notes give the source, its locator and how it relates to the claim.
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1.
Claim: On 29 July 2019, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Guam's 2000 Plebiscite Law's restriction of voting to Native Inhabitants violated the Fifteenth Amendment, applying the precedents of Rice v. Cayetano and a related Northern Mariana Islands case that had invalidated similar ancestry-based voting restrictions as unconstitutional proxies for race; the US Supreme Court denied certiorari in 2020, and the plebiscite as configured was permanently enjoined. No legally binding plebiscite on Guam's political status has been completed.
- Davis v. Guam Court of Appeals Decision (US Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division) link, Ninth Circuit ruling and injunction section. Source record
Printed from https://independenceatlas.com/movements/guahan-guam-self-determination/status · last substantive update 24 September 2026.