Jose Cabranes

Jose Cabranes
Do you have a photo that could go here? Submit it for this profile by emailing us!
Current Court Information:
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Title:	Judge
Position:	Seat #2
Station:	CT
Service:
Appointed by:	Bill Clinton
Active:	8/10/1994 - Present
Preceded by:	Richard Cardamone
Past post:	District of Connecticut
Past chief:	1992-1994
Past term:	1979-1994
Past position:	Seat #1
Personal History
Born:	1940
Home State:	Mayagüez, PR
Bachelors:	Columbia, A.B., 1961
Law School:	Yale Law, J.D., 1965
Grad. School:	U. of Cambridge, England, M.Litt., 1967

Jose Alberto Cabranes is a federal appeals judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York City. He joined the court in 1994 after being nominated by President Bill Clinton. At the time of appointment, he was serving the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut after a 1979 appointment from Jimmy Carter.

Early life and education

Cabranes was born in 1940 in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, and at the age of five moved with his family to the South Bronx, New York. After attending public schools in New York City, Cabranes graduated from Columbia-New York with his Bachelor's Degree in 1961 and later obtained his Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law in 1965. Cabranes studied abroad at Cambridge-England and graduated with a M.Litt degree in International Law in 1967. Cabranes studied at Cambridge under a Kellett Research Fellowship from Columbia-New York and the Humanitarian Trust Studentship in Public International Law from the Faculty Board of Law of Cambridge-England.

Professional career

Cabranes was in private practice from 1967 to 1971. From 1971 to 1973, Cabranes served as an Associate Professor at Rutgers Law before serving two years as General Counsel to the Governor of Puerto Rico from 1973 to 1975. From 1975 to 1979, Cabranes served as General Counsel and Director of Government Relations at Yale University.

Judicial career

Second Circuit Court of Appeals

On the recommendation of U.S. Senators Joe Libermann and Christopher Dodd, Cabranes was nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit by President Bill Clinton on May 24, 1994 to a seat vacated by Richard Cardamone. Cabranes was confirmed by the Senate on August 9, 1994 on a majority vote and received commission on August 10, 1994.

District of Connecticut

On the recommendation of Connecticut U.S. Senator Abraham Ribicoff, Cabranes was nominated to the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut by President Jimmy Carter on November 6, 1979, to a seat vacated by Jon Newman as Newman was nominated to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Cabranes was confirmed by the Senate on December 5, 1979 on a Senate vote and received commission on December 10, 1979. Cabranes served as the Chief Judge of the District of Connecticut from 1992 to 1994. Cabranes was the first Puerto Rican appointed to the Federal Bench in the Continental United States. Cabranes was succeeded in this position by Janet Arterton.

Awards and associations

Awards

• Cabranes was the recipient of the Learned Hand Medal for Excellence in Federal Jurisprudence of the Federal Bar Council in 2000. .

Associations

• In 1988, Judge Cabranes was one of five Federal judges appointed by former Chief Justice of the United States William Rehnquist to the 15-member Federal Courts Study Committee created by Act of Congress. The purpose of the study committee was: “to examine problems facing the Federal courts and develop a long-range plan for the future of the Federal judiciary.”
• Cabranes has been elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
• Before his appointment to the Federal Bench, Judge Cabranes served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of two major Hispanic Civil Rights organizations, Aspira of New York, the educational agency that helps inner-city Hispanic youth prepare for college, and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund in which Cabranes was a founding member of the pro-Puerto Rican organization.
• Judge Cabranes served as a trustee of Yale from 1987 to 1999, and now serves as a trustee of Columbia-New York. Carbanes is also a former trustee of Colgate.

Written Works

Cabranes is the author of Citizenship and the American Empire published by Yale University Press in 1979. The book is a legislative history of the United States citizenship of the people of Puerto Rico, and co-authored with Kate Stith of Fear of Judging: Sentencing Guidelines in the Federal Courts which was published by the University of Chicago Press in 1998. Cabranes also earned the Certificate of Merit of the American Bar Association in 1999 for his written works , and has had various articles in a wide variety of law journals.

Notable cases

Citigroup liability case

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit      *In re Citigroup ERISA Litigation 662 F. 3d 128

Judge Walker authored the Second Circuit Court's opinion in a ruling declaring that Citigroup was not liable to workers who lost money on their 401(k) plans due to the company's exposure to toxic debt. The court split 2-1 in the decision, with Judge Jose Cabranes agreeing with Judge Walker and Judge Chester Straub dissenting. The case was brought under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 by workers who claimed that Citigroup should not have offered bank stock in its retirement plans because it knew its subprime mortgage exposure made the stock a dangerous investment. The court disagreed, Judge Walker wrote that the workers did not show that Citigroup "either knew or should have known that Citigroup was in the sort of dire situation that required them to override plan terms in order to limit participants' investments in Citigroup stock." Marc Machiz, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said he expects the case to be reheard by the full Second Circuit Court. Judge Cabranes sided with with Judge John Walker in the Second Circuit Court's ruling declaring that Citigroup was not liable to workers who lost money on their 401(k) plans due to the company's exposure to toxic debt. The court split 2-1 in the decision, with Judge Cabranes and Judge Walker on one side, and Judge Chester Straub dissenting. The case was brought under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 by workers who claimed that Citigroup should not have offered bank stock in its retirement plans because it knew its subprime mortgage exposure made the stock a dangerous investment. Judge Walker, who authored the court's opinion, wrote that the workers did not show that Citigroup "either knew or should have known that Citigroup was in the sort of dire situation that required them to override plan terms in order to limit participants' investments in Citigroup stock." Marc Machiz, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said he expects the case to be reheard by the full Second Circuit Court. Judge Straub was the dissenting voice in a 2-1 split in the Second Circuit Court's ruling declaring that Citigroup was not liable to workers who lost money on their 401(k) plans due to the company's exposure to toxic debt. The case was brought under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 by workers who claimed that Citigroup should not have offered bank stock in its retirement plans because it knew its subprime mortgage exposure made the stock a dangerous investment. Judge John Walker, who authored the court's opinion, wrote that the workers did not show that Citigroup "either knew or should have known that Citigroup was in the sort of dire situation that required them to override plan terms in order to limit participants' investments in Citigroup stock." Judge Walker was joined by Judge Jose Cabranes in the opinion. Marc Machiz, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said he expects the case to be reheard by the full Second Circuit Court.

See also

• United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

External links

• Judge Cabaranes Webpage at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals
• Judge Jose Cabranes FJC Bio

References

Federal judicial offices
Preceded by: Jon Newman	District of Connecticut 1979–1994 Seat #1	Succeeded by: Janet Arterton
Preceded by: Richard Cardamone	Second Circuit 1994–present Seat #2	Succeeded by: NA