United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico

• Court
• Judges

District of Puerto Rico First Circuit Chief: Aida Delgado-Colon Judges: 6 Posts: 7 Vacancies: 1 Active judges Besosa • Cerezo • Fuste • Gelpi • Garcia-Gregory Senior Judges Casellas • Dominguez • Perez-Gimenez Magistrate Judges Arenas • Lopez • McGiverin • Velez-Rive Former Judges

Key: (Numbers indicate % of seats vacant.) 0% 0%-10% 10%-25% 25%-40% More than 40%

The United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico is a U.S. district court.

Vacancy warning level

The United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico's vacancy warning level is currently set at yellow. The court currently has one vacancy out of their seven posts, constituting 14% of their seats. There are no pending appointments for the district.

Jurisdiction

The Municipalities of Puerto Rico (click for larger map)

The jurisdiction of the District of Puerto Rico consists of all the municipalities in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The court is based in San Juan with the main building being the Clemente Ruiz Nazario U.S. Courthouse located in the Hato Rey district of San Juan.

When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the First Circuit Court of Appeals based in Downtown Boston at the John Joseph Moakley Federal Courthouse, but hears appeals at the Old San Juan courthouse for two sessions each year.

Cases heard

The District of Puerto Rico has original jurisdiction over cases filed within its jurisdiction. These cases can include civil and criminal matters that fall under federal law.

Case load

Federal Court Case Load Statistics*

Year	Starting case load:	Cases filed:	Total cases:	Cases terminated:	Remaining cases:	Median time(Criminal)**:	Median time(Civil)**:	3 Year Civil cases#:	Vacant posts:##	Trials/Post
2010	1711	1820	3531	1734	1797	13.1	11.3	45(3.2%)	0	18
2009	1960	1777	3737	2029	1708	11.2	11.9	58(4.1%)	0	19
2008	2059	2037	4096	2145	1951	9.2	10.5	99(5.9%)	6.8	15
2007	2078	1803	3881	1824	2057	10.8	12.2	128(7.5%)	0	14
2006	2087	1851	3938	1855	2083	9.4	12.8	147(8.6%)	19.1	16

*All statistics are taken from the Official Federal Courts' Website and reflect the calendar year through September.    **Time in months from filing to completion. #This statistic includes cases which have been appealed in higher courts.    ##This is the total number of months that any all judicial posts had spent vacant that year.

Clerk's office

The District of Puerto Rico Clerk's office is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., excluding designated holidays. Please consult the chart below for more information:

Branch	Address	Phone number
Main Office	Federico Degetau Federal Building, Room 150 150 Carlos Chardón Street San Juan, Puerto Rico 00918-1767	(787) 772-3000
Satellite Office	José V. Toledo U.S. Courthouse 300 Recinto Sur Street San Juan, Puerto Rico 00901	(787) 977-6138

History

Court history

The District of Puerto Rico was established by Congress in 1900 with one judge appointed to a 4 year term. In 1915 the court was assigned to the First Circuit and in 1938 the judge's term of office was increased to 8 years. Then in September 12, 1966, the judgeships were made lifetime positions and the court was elevated to the same status as other United States District Courts. Over time 6 additional judicial posts were added for a total of 7 current posts.

Judicial posts

Prior to 1966, all appointments to the court were considered Article I appointments, which did not carry life tenures. After 1966, the appointments were considered article III appointments and carried lifetime terms. The following table highlights the development of judicial posts for the District of Puerto Rico:

Year	Statute	Total Seats
1900	31 Stat. 77	1
1961	75 Stat. 80	2
September 12, 1966	80 Stat. 764 Court status elevated	2
June 2, 1970	84 Stat. 294	3
October 20, 1978	92 Stat. 1629	7

Notable cases

For a searchable list of opinions, please see Opinions of the District of Puerto Rico.

• Police Chief prohibition case  Judge(s):Arthur Fuller Odlin

Judge Odlin was the first judge for the District of Puerto Rico to preside over a major corruption case within the territory's police department. The police department acquired information concerning an investigation occurring which accused the police department and other top goverment officials of flagrant violations of the prohibition laws preventing the sale and consumption of alcohol across the U.S.. As the trial date approached, Judge Odlin ordered police chief Colonel George Shanton to surrender the evidence against the department and public officials. Shanton wrote to judge Odlin and requested an exemption from the order as he had already "disposed" of the evidence. He was held in contempt of court, arrested for two days and immediately fired.

• Puerto Rican right to vote  Judge(s):Jaime Pieras      *Igartua de la Rosa v. United States 107 F. Supp. 2d 140(D.P.R. 2000)
In this case, Judge Pieras established the right of Puerto Ricans to vote for the President of the United States. Pieras used his opinion to highlight what he felt were glaring civil rights violations based on Puerto Rico's status within the United States. The ruling was later overturned at the appellate level.

Federal courthouse

The court is based in San Juan. The main building is the Clemente Ruiz Nazario U.S. Courthouse located in the Hato Rey district of San Juan. The Magistrate Judges are located in the adjacent Federico Degetau Federal Building, and several senior district judges hold court at the old courthouse in Old San Juan. The old courthouse also houses the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

See also

• United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit

External links

• Official Site
• Judges of the District of Puerto Rico
• Opinions of the District of Puerto Rico

References

District of Puerto Rico First Circuit Chief: Aida Delgado-Colon Judges: 6 Posts: 7 Vacancies: 1 Active judges Besosa • Cerezo • Fuste • Gelpi • Garcia-Gregory Senior Judges Casellas • Dominguez • Perez-Gimenez Magistrate Judges Arenas • Lopez • McGiverin • Velez-Rive Former Judges

Key: (Numbers indicate % of seats vacant.) 0% 0%-10% 10%-25% 25%-40% More than 40%

Active judges

Article III judges

See: Article III federal judge
The United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico has 7 posts and 1 vacancy. The current Chief Judge is Aida Delgado-Colon. This is a list of the current judges on the court:

Judge	Born	Home	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Preceeded	Bachelors	Law
Judge Jose Fuste	1943	San Juan, PR	Reagan	10/28/1985 - Present	2004 - 2011	Juan Torruella	U. of Puerto Rico, B.B.A., 1965	U. Puerto Rico Law, LL.B., 1968
Judge Carmen Cerezo	1940	San Juan, PR	Carter	6/30/1980 - Present	1993 - 1999	New Seat|92 Stat. 1629	Puerto Rico U., B.A., 1963	Puerto Rico U. Law, J.D., 1966
Judge Jay Garcia-Gregory	September 19, 1944	San Juan, PR	Clinton	7/11/2000 - Present		Raymond Acosta	Assumption College, A.B., 1966	Puerto Rico U. Law, LL.B., 1972
Chief Judge Aida Delgado-Colon	1955	Lares, PR	W. Bush	3/17/2006 - Present	4/14/2011 - Present	Salvador Casellas	University of Puerto Rico, B.A., 1977	Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico, J.D., 1980
Judge Gustavo Gelpi	1965	San Juan, PR	W. Bush	8/1/2006 - Present		Hector Laffitte	Brandeis University, B.A., 1987	Suffolk University Law School, J.D., 1991
Judge Francisco Besosa	October 26, 1949	San Juan, Puerto Rico	W. Bush	9/27/2006 - Present		Juan Perez-Gimenez	Brown University, A.B., 1971	Georgetown University Law Center, J.D., 1979

Pending appointments

There are no current pending appointments for the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.

Senior judges

See: Federal judges on senior status
The United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico has 3 judges on senior status currently. This is a list of the current senior judges on the court:

Judge	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Senior	Bachelors	Law
Senior Judge Salvador Casellas	Clinton	9/29/1994 - 6/10/2005		6/10/2005 - Present	Georgetown U., B.S.F.S, 1957	Puerto Rico U. Law, LL.B., 1960
Senior Judge Daniel Dominguez	Clinton	9/29/2004 - 7/31/2011		7/31/2011 - Present	Boston U., B.A., 1967	Puerto Rico U. Law, LL.B., 1970
Senior Judge Juan Perez-Gimenez	Carter	12/6/1979 - 3/28/2006	1984 - 1991	3/28/2006 - Present	Puerto Rico U., B.A., 1963	Puerto Rico U. Law, LL.B., 1968

Magistrate judges

Judge	Active	Bachelors	Law
Magistrate Judge Camille Velez-Rive
Magistrate Judge Bruce McGiverin
Magistrate Judge Marcos Lopez
Magistrate judge Silvia Carreno-Coll

Past judges

Former Chief judges

Judge	Term
Jose Toledo	1974 - 1980
Hernan Pesquera	1980 - 1982
Juan Perez-Gimenez	1984 - 1991
Hector Laffitte	1999 - 2004
Gilberto Gierbolini-Ortiz	1991 - 1993
Hiram Cancio	1967 - 1974
Juan Torruella	1982-1984
Carmen Cerezo	1993 - 1999
Jose Fuste	2004 - 2011

In order to qualify for the office of Chief Judge in one of the federal courts, a judge must have been in active service on the court for at least one year, be under the age of 65, and have not previously served as Chief Judge. A vacancy in the office of Chief Judge is filled by the judge highest in seniority among the group of qualified judges. The Chief Judge serves for a term of seven years or until age 70, whichever occurs first. The age restrictions are waived if no members of the court would otherwise be qualified for the position. Unlike the Chief Justice of the United States, a Chief Judge returns to active service after the expiration of his or her term and does not create a vacancy on the bench by the fact of his or her promotion. See 28 U.S.C. § 45.

These rules for Chief Judges in the federal judiciary have been in effect since October 1, 1982. The office of Chief Judge was created in 1948. Until August 6, 1959, the position was filled in each federal court by the longest-serving judge who had not elected to retire on what has since 1958 been known as senior status or declined to serve as Chief Judge. From then until 1982 it was filled by the senior such judge who had not turned 70.

Former judges

Seat 1	Seat 2	Seat 3
Judge Term Nazario 3/28/1952 - 12/1966 Roberts 10/10/1950 - 1951 Chavez Jr. 6/2/1947 - 5/5/1950 Cooper 1/29/1934 - 1947 Wells 12/8/1925 - 1/29/1933 Odlin 1921 - 1925 Hamilton 1913-1921 Charlton 7/1/1911 - 3/26/1913 Jenkins Rodey 6/16/1906 - 1910 McKenna 6/9/1904 - 1906 Holt 6/5/1900 - 1904 Cancio 6/12/1967 - 1/31/1974 Torruella 1974-1984 Fuste 10/28/1985 - Present	Judge Term Pesquera 10/17/1972 - 9/8/1982 Laffitte 7/27/1983 - 11/15/2005 Fernandez-Badillo 10/12/1967 - 6/30/1972 Cancio 1965 - 1967 Gelpi 8/1/2006 - Present	Judge Term Toledo 12/1/1970 - 2/3/1980 Garcia-Gregory 7/11/2000 - Present Acosta 9/30/1982 - 6/1/1994
Seat 4	Seat 5	Seat 6
Judge Term Perez-Gimenez 12/6/1979 - 3/28/2006 Besosa 9/27/2006 - Present	Judge Term Gierbolini-Ortiz 2/20/1980 - 12/27/1993 Dominguez 9/29/2004 - 7/31/2011	Judge Term Cerezo 6/30/1980 - Present
Seat 7
Judge Term Delgado-Colon 3/17/2006 - Present Casellas 9/29/1994 - 6/10/2005 Pieras 7/15/1982 - 8/1/1993