Torréns v. Lockheed Martin Services Group, Inc.

BOUDIN, Chief Judge.

The narrow but important question before us is whether certain property at U.S. Naval Station Roosevelt Roads in Puerto Rico is “federal enclave” property over which the federal government enjoys exclusive legislative jurisdiction (save as federal law may incorporate local law). The question, on which district court judges in Puerto Rico have now reached conflicting results, is buried in a private law suit, now a decade old.

Roosevelt Roads was a Navy base (recently deactivated but still federally owned), primarily located at the eastern tip of Puerto Rico. At its height,…