Gingrich (1981): Spacemen entitled to Constitutional rights

Newt Gingrich cares a lot about Star Trek America's domination of space. He talks about moon colonies in the Republican debates and he wrote about casual space travel in past books. But in 1981, as a member of Congress he introduced H.R. 4286, a House Resolution that mapped out a plan for America to claim permanent space in...space.

Details of the resolution were published in Roll Call today:

• “All persons residing in any community in space organized under … the United States shall be entitled to the protection of the Constitution….”
• “Whenever such community shall have acquired twenty thousand inhabitants … they shall receive from Congress authority with appointment … to establish a permanent constitution and government for themselves.”
• “Whenever any such community shall have as many inhabitants as shall be in the least numerous of the United States such a community shall be admitted as a State into the Congress of the United States on an equal footing with the original States.”

The best part: Gingrich wanted this stuff done by 2010.