The U.S. Supreme Court went back into session this week, with a series of controversial topics on its docket. But one that representatives from the U.S. territories hope will eventually make it before the high court - The Insular Cases - was discussed in an online forum today.

The panel discussion was organized by Puerto Rico-based Microjuris, Digital Legal Research and Education Company. The topic was "The Odious And Wrong Insular Cases", a quote from Justice Sonia Sotamayor's dissenting opinion in a case that denied supplemental security income to Puerto Rico because of its territorial status.

Among the panelists was Guam-born attorney Neil Weare, the president and founder of Equally American, which advocates for full citizen rights for the territories. He says the Supreme Court can reverse the decades-old case, like it did in the Plessy-Fergusion decision that rejected racial discrimination.

"Our hope is that that same kind of catalyst and change could be created by this court taking responsibility for the problem it itself created," said Weare. "The Supreme Court created The Insular Cases and this doctrine of separate and unequal, and so it has a responsibility to address that issue."

He says many in Congress use The Insular Cases as an excuse not to act on critical issues for the territories such as self-determination, federal benefits eligibility and environmental issues. CNMI representative Sheila Babauta was also on the panel, and cited the real world impact of this inequality.

"We see our shores disappearing literally before our eyes, infrastructure, sidewalks gone. Coconut trees gone, just in the last five years since I've been home and our coral reefs are dying, and yet we have no say in how the United States is responding to the climate crisis," she pointed out.

While its not certain if the high court will take on the insular cases, there is mounting pressure on them to do so. Just this August the American Bar Association passed a unanimous resolution opposing The Insular Cases, and conservative justice Neal Gorsuch agreed with with fellow justice Sotomayor when he wrote that the cases "have no place in our law" - an encouraging sign, says forum organizer Ataveyra Medina, CEO of Microjuris.

"So we know that determinations by a supreme court do have a great political, cultural even economic impact on the lives of people," Medina said.