Examining Bd. of Engineers, Architects and Surveyors v. Flores De Otero

This case presents the issue whether the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico possesses *575jurisdiction, under 28 U. S. C. § 1343 (3),1 to entertain a suit based upon 42 U. S. C. § 1983,2 and, if the answer is in the affirmative, the further issue whether Puerto Rico’s restriction, by statute, of licenses for civil engineers to United States citizens is constitutional. The first issue, phrased another way, is whether Puerto Rico is a “State,” for purposes of § 1343 (3), insofar as that statute speaks of deprivation “under color of any State law”; the resolution of that…