ST. THOMAS - Proclaiming that the proposed Virgin Islands constitution violates federal law, fails to defer to federal sovereignty and disregards basic civil rights, Gov. John deJongh Jr. rejected the document on Thursday.

The governor's action effectively ends the work of the Fifth Constitutional Convention. Delegates began their work in October 2007, and 20 of the 30 delegates voted to approve a draft constitution loaded with controversial provisions on May 26 - days before the convention's May 31 deadline to complete its work.

DeJongh received the document from members of the Fifth Constitutional Convention on June 1. Under the federal law that sets up the process for the Virgin Islands to write its own constitution, deJongh had 10 days to transmit the document to President Barack Obama. Thursday was deJongh's deadline.

Instead of acting solely as a conduit to move the document to Washington for review and amendment by the federal government, deJongh used his 10 days to analyze it. Soon after receiving the draft, deJongh requested a legal opinion from Attorney General Vincent Frazer on whether it met all of the requirements outlined in federal and local law.

Flanked by Frazer and Lt. Gov. Gregory Francis, deJongh announced in the Government House ballroom on Thursday that the document falls short of those mandates.

"I have concluded upon the advice of legal counsel, the opinion of the attorney general and my own reading of the plain language of the laws and documents before me that the proposed constitution adopted by the Fifth Constitutional Convention does not comply with the law," deJongh said. "Indeed, this matter is to me both clear on its face and basic to our concepts of equality and fairness."

DeJongh also had asked Frazer to assess what actions Government House was required to take. In a strongly worded 17-page opinion, Frazer told the governor that he should not do anything. DeJongh announced Thursday that he was following that advice.

"I cannot accept the advice to follow what some have said would be the politically expedient and simply forward this document with strong critical comments," deJongh said. "It is not an option because I will not forward to the president of the United States a proposed constitution that both fails to recognize the supremacy of the Constitution of the United States and is additionally and clearly inconsistent with basic civil rights and protections contained in the U.S. Constitution."

According to the federal law, a Virgin Islands constitution must recognize and be consistent with the United States' sovereignty over the territory and the supremacy of the U.S. Constitution, as well as federal treaties and laws applicable to the territory. The document also must provide for a republican form of government with executive, legislative and judicial branches. It must have a bill of rights and provide for a system of local courts.

The law passed by the 25th Legislature in 2004 that established the Fifth Constitutional Convention also requires that the document provide a procedure for amending the constitution and an effective date for the document.

DeJongh said Thursday that he is able to play a role in the process because the federal law gives the governor 10 days to forward a document that meets specific requirements. If the governor was only intended to be a conduit to get the document to the president - in essence, just pay the postage for the document, deJongh said - the week-and-a-half time period would be meaningless.

In the year and eight months since the convention began, it has been a hotbed of controversy, chaos and melee. Several contentious items granting exclusive rights for people with ancestral roots in the Virgin Islands made their way into the document. Additionally, convention meetings became renowned for explosive arguments between delegates and politically motivated stunts to direct or delay discussion.

Most of the controversy over the draft document stems from a provision that defines "ancestral native" and "native" Virgin Islanders.

According to the draft, ancestral native Virgin Islanders are people who can trace their bloodlines back to people who were living in the Virgin Islands before 1932 - when the United States granted mass citizenship on people in the territory - and were not citizens of any other country. Native Virgin Islanders are defined as people who can trace their ancestry to people born in the territory after 1932.

The proposed constitution affords those groups with exclusive rights:

- Ancestral native Virgin Islanders would get generous property tax abatements - they would pay no taxes on their primary residences or undeveloped land.

- Only ancestral and native Virgin Islanders could be elected governor or lieutenant governor.

- Only ancestral and native Virgin Islanders could vote on changing the territory's political status in relation to the United States.

DeJongh noted that simply defining native Virgin Islanders in the last draft constitution in 1980 touched off a firestorm of controversy. Granting specific rights to people who meet ancestral requirements provides them with unconstitutional advantages and flies in the face of federally mandated equal rights, deJongh said.

"Surely no one should expect me - one of only three African-American governors in our nation and, by the way, a native and ancestral Virgin Islander - to forward a proposed constitution that is clearly unconstitutional to our nation's first African-American president, who happens to also be a constitutional scholar and a former law professor," deJongh said. "A man, incidentally, who even though he has been elected to our nation's highest office, would be ineligible to run for governor or lieutenant governor of this U.S. territory no matter how many years he lived here under the terms of this proposed draft.

"I have far too much pride in, and on behalf of the people of the Virgin Islands, of all ancestry and color, to do any such thing," deJongh continued. "For me, this is not just a legal argument. It is a civil rights issue."

DeJongh also noted that federal and local laws require the document to be consistent with the sovereignty of the United States and the supremacy of federal laws and treaties applicable to the Virgin Islands. Most state constitutions - and the other proposed Virgin Islands constitutions through the years - have sentences stating those two facts. The new draft document does not have any such language.

The proposed constitution also violates federal law in the composition of the Senate, deJongh said. In a 15-member legislature, one seat is reserved solely for St. John. In reading from Frazer's opinion, deJongh said that St. John would be over-represented with its own senator - violating the "one man, one vote" federal law, which requires that different population areas get equal representation.

DeJongh said that he supports the idea of a Virgin Islands constitution and that he had hoped to receive a document that he could pass on to the White House. The actions of the Constitutional Convention, he said, kept that from happening.

Many people who support the draft constitution have urged deJongh to simply forward it to Congress for them to amend and clean up. That suggestion is offensive, deJongh said.

"The drafting of a proper Virgin Islands constitution should be done in the Virgin Islands, by Virgin Islanders," he said.

DeJongh's action effectively shuts down the Fifth Constitutional Convention. In keeping with territorial law, the Constitutional Convention went into recess once it finished the document and the May 31 deadline passed. It cannot reconvene and amend the document.

Legislation can be passed to restart the constitutional process. DeJongh said that choice rests with the Senate, but he said he is ready to participate in any discussions and will work with any fair and equitable process toward more self-rule.

DeJongh said that the territory deserves a constitution worthy of the people of the Virgin Islands and their rich history. The decision not to send on the document does not contradict deJongh's support of a Virgin Islands constitution, he said.

"I know on which side I stand," deJongh said. "I stand with the vast majority of Virgin Islanders, both native and those who have chosen to become Virgin Islanders. I stand on the side of equality and equal opportunity."

- Contact reporter Megan Poinski at 774-8772 ext. 304 or e-mail mpoinski@dailynews.vi.