the time of US acquisition, but who had now returned to the island. People who had renounced foreign nationality and were previously Puerto Rican under local law, became stateless under the terms of the Jones Act. In 1922, the US Supreme Court clarified in the case of Balzac v. Porto Rico (258 US 298, 1922) that the full protection and rights of the US Constitution are not applicable to residents of Puerto Rico until they come to reside in the United States proper. Amendments to the Jones Act in 1927 extended naturalization with statutory citizenship to those who had been absent when it was enacted and those whom it had rendered stateless because of residency under previous Spanish law. In 1950, the US Congress passed Public Law 600, authorizing Puerto Rico to draft its own constitution to regulate its internal affairs. A local referendum was held to determine whether the government should be organized with a commonwealth status. The Constitutional Convention of Puerto Rico established a constitution which had few differences between the relationship of Puerto Rico and the United States. Parts of the Jones Act were repealed, but the remainder ensured that the permanent association with the United States remained. Current system Nationality acquisition and federal citizenship By virtue of the various laws passed concerning Puerto Rican nationality and citizenship, Puerto Ricans acquire nationality and federal citizenship by various means. These include by birth in one of the fifty states or District of Columbia; becoming naturalized; under the terms of the Jones Act, as it has been amended over time; under provisions of the Nationality Act of 1940 and by having a parent who was Puerto Rican and held federal nationality; or birth in Puerto Rico on or after April 11, 1899. Likewise, federal statutory citizenship has been acquired through the Jones Act and its various amendments through time. Despite possessing federal statutory citizenship, residents of Puerto Rico have no representation in the US Congress, are unable to vote in the Electoral College, and do not have full protection under the US Constitution, until they come to reside in a U.S. state. Though all residents of Puerto Rico pay federal taxes, there is less federal assistance available to island citizens through programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Medicaid, and Supplemental Security Income. Puerto Rico's history as a territory has created both confusion over the status of its nationals