, located near the land entrance to
San Juan Islet The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico was established by the
Foraker Act in 1900 and maintained in the 1952
Constitution of Puerto Rico. It is the only appellate court required by the Constitution. All other courts are created by the
Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico. However, since Puerto Rico is under
United States sovereignty, there is also a
Federal District Court for the archipelago and island. The justices (currently eight, with one vacancy) are appointed by the
Governor of Puerto Rico and confirmed by majority vote by the
Senate. One of the justices serves as Chief Justice; the remaining members are designated Associate Justices. Unlike the Supreme Court of the United States, the justices of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court do not serve for life, as the Puerto Rico Constitution requires that all judges must retire upon reaching age 70. The jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico is defined by the Constitution and the laws of Puerto Rico. In general, the jurisdictional structure parallels that of the state Supreme Courts in the continental United States. The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico has concurrent jurisdiction with federal courts to interpret federal laws, unless the Supremacy Clause requires otherwise. Judgments that stand on federal law grounds may be reviewed by the
United States Supreme Court, unless an adequate and independent ground for the decision based in Puerto Rico commonwealth law is also present. The Court has the power of
judicial review and its decision are considered binding precedent within the jurisdiction of Puerto Rico. The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico also regulates the practice of law in Puerto Rico. The term of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court begins on the first Monday of October and ends in the last week of June of the following year. However, during the recess months of July through September, an alternating panel of three justices are allowed to hear cases and their decisions are considered binding precedent. However, in order for any law passed by the Legislative Assembly to be declared unconstitutional, it requires the votes of a majority of the total membership of the Court, therefore, a three-justice panel may not hear constitutional challenges to laws passed by the Legislature. The justices decide whether or not to hear oral arguments for the case. If the case is controversial or carries high public interest, an oral argument may be scheduled, although oral arguments were rare under Chief Justice Hernández Denton. When oral argument occurs, each side has twenty-five minutes to state its respective claims and five minutes for rebuttal. After the sides have ended their argument, each justice has ten minutes (in order of seniority) to ask questions to each side. Justices may decide to yield the balance of their time to one of their colleagues. Because several Federal judges have voluntarily withdrawn from the
Puerto Rico Bar Association and was converted by statute into a voluntary membership organization, the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico maintains the official bar records of Puerto Rico licensed attorneys.
Chief Justices The
Chief Justice is the
presiding officer of the Supreme Court, and amongst its functions it directs the administration of the different courts, chairs the Constitutional Redistricting Board which revises
Puerto Rico's senatorial and
representative districts after every decennial census, and presides at the impeachment trial of the
Governor of Puerto Rico.
Associate Justices Lower courts During much of the 20th century, the court system in Puerto Rico had consisted of
Municipal Courts,
District Courts, and the Supreme Court. Cases could be appealed from Municipal Courts to commonwealth District Courts. From the commonwealth District Courts cases were then appealed to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Supreme Court. Municipal and District courts have existed in Puerto Rico since at least the 19th century. When the United States invaded the island, it set to reorganize the judicial system. The U.S. military regime in Puerto Rico promulgated Order 118 of 1899, by which the system of Criminal Courts and Courts of First Instance and Investigation were replaced by five district courts in San Juan, Ponce, Mayaguez, Arecibo and Humacao.
Appointments . Appointments to the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico have traditionally been a politicized and often controversial process. The Governor of Puerto Rico usually appoints someone who is affiliated with his own
political party. For example, during his sixteen years as Governor,
Luis Muñoz Marín appointed only one statehooder,
Rafael Hernández Matos to the court, despite the fact that statehooders represented the largest political minority in Puerto Rico. During the four years of divided partisan control of government between 2005 and 2009, when the governorship was occupied by commonwealther
Aníbal Acevedo Vilá and the Senate presidency was held by statehooder
Kenneth McClintock, despite the 2005 retirement of
Associate Justice Baltasar Corrada del Rio, the death of
Associate Justice Jaime Fuster in 2007 and the 2008 retirement of
Associate Justice Francisco Rebollo, no appointments were made. For over half a century, the Court has been dominated by justices affiliated with the
Popular Democratic Party, until February 2009 when, due to the accumulation of unfilled vacancies, pro-statehood Governor
Luis Fortuño was able to fill three vacancies. Added to one Justice already on the Court, appointed by another pro-statehood Governor, the justices appointed by statehooders became a majority in the Court. This also marked the point in which four female justices constituted the largest number of women in history to serve on the court simultaneously. == Current composition ==