How You Can Lose Your Rights As An American Citizen With A Change Of Address? Part 2

Program Faculty

Pamela Colon, Esq. – Attorney Licensed in Illinois & the U. S. Virgin Islands 

Professor Neil Weare, Esq. – Equally American

Program Planning Chair – Sherry Levin Wallach; New York State Bar Association President Elect 

This event is co-sponsored by the Virgin Island Bar Association. 

This three-part program series examines how your residency and where you live impacts your rights as an American Citizen. Did you know that if you move to a U.S. territory you immediately lose the right to vote for President and can be discriminated against in a range of federal programs? In July, President Biden addressed this problem by declaring “there can be no second-class citizens in the United States of America.” Whether America’s ideals match reality for citizens in U.S. territories will be on the line as the Supreme Court, Congress, and the President all take up these issues in the coming months.   

Part 2 – Join attorneys Pamela Colon and Neil Weare to discuss ongoing federal litigation that challenges the denial of the right to vote, discrimination in federal benefits programs, and even the denial of citizenship itself to residents of U.S. territories. Pamela Colon is a criminal defense lawyer in the U.S. Virgin Island and former President of the Virgin Islands Bar Association who has served as both a plaintiff and co-counsel in federal lawsuits that challenge federal and state laws that allow former state residents to continue voting for President and voting representation in Congress if they move to a foreign country or certain territories, but not if they move to others. Neil Weare is President and Founder of Equally American, a nonprofit organization that fights for equality and civil rights for the 3.5 million citizens in U.S. territories-98% of whom are racial or ethnic minorities. He recently taught legal seminars on the Law of U.S. Territories at Yale and Columbia, and is counsel in several high profile cases involving equal rights in U.S. territories. 

Registration for this program is free for Virgin Islands Bar Association and NYSBA members.