| United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico (D.P.R.) |
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| Appeals to | First Circuit |
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| Established | September 12, 1966 |
| Judges assigned | 7 |
| Chief judge | Jose Antonio Fuste |
| Official site | |
The United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico (in case citations, D.P.R.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 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. Most appeals from this court are heard by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, which is headquartered in Boston but hears appeals at the Old San Juan courthouse for two sessions each year. Patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act are appealed to the Federal Circuit.
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Judges
There are seven authorized active judgeships in the Puerto Rico District Court. Seven active judges are currently sitting, together with four senior judges who may elect to supervise reduced caseloads.
| Judge | Appointed by | Began active service |
Ended active service |
Ended senior status |
End reason |
| Raymond L. Acosta | Ronald Reagan | September 30, 1982 | June 1, 1994 | Incumbent | – |
| Francisco Besosa | George W. Bush | September 27, 2006 | Incumbent | – | – |
| Hiram Rafael Cancio | Lyndon B. Johnson | June 12, 1967 | January 31, 1974 | – | resignation |
| Salvador E. Casellas | Bill Clinton | September 29, 1994 | June 10, 2005 | Incumbent | – |
| Carmen Consuelo Cerezo | Jimmy Carter | June 30, 1980 | Incumbent | – | – |
| Aida Delgado-Colon | George W. Bush | March 17, 2006 | Incumbent | – | – |
| Daniel R. Dominguez | Bill Clinton | September 29, 1994 | Incumbent | – | – |
| Juan B. Fernandez-Badillo | Lyndon B. Johnson | October 12, 1967 | June 30, 1972 | October 16, 1989 | death |
| José A. Fusté | Ronald Reagan | October 28, 1985 | Incumbent | – | – |
| Jay A. Garcia-Gregory | Bill Clinton | July 11, 2000 | Incumbent | – | – |
| Gustavo Antonio Gelpi Jr. | George W. Bush | August 1, 2006 | Incumbent | – | – |
| Gilberto Gierbolini-Ortiz | Jimmy Carter | February 20, 1980 | December 27, 1993 | March 23, 2004 | retirement |
| Hector Manuel Laffitte | Ronald Reagan | July 27, 1983 | November 15, 2005 | February 16, 2007 | retirement |
| Juan Manuel Perez-Gimenez | Jimmy Carter | December 6, 1979 | March 28, 2006 | Incumbent | – |
| Hernan Gregorio Pesquera | Richard M. Nixon | October 17, 1972 | September 8, 1982 | – | death |
| Jaime Pieras Jr. | Ronald Reagan | July 15, 1982 | August 1, 1993 | Incumbent | – |
| Jose Victor Toledo | Richard M. Nixon | December 1, 1970 | February 3, 1980 | – | death |
| Juan R. Torruella | Gerald Ford | December 20, 1974 | October 30, 1984 | – | reappointment |
Judges who served on the Court from 1900 to 1966, before it became an Article III court, were:
- William H. Holt (1900-1904)
- Charles F. McKenna (1904-1906)
- Bernard Shandon Rodey (1906-1910)
- John J. Jenkins (1910-1911)
- Paul Charlton (1911-1913)
- Peter J. Hamilton (1913-1921)
- Arthur F. Odlin (1921-1925)
- Ira K. Wells (1925-1933)
- Robert A. Cooper (1933-1947)
- David Chávez (1947-1950)
- Thomas H. Roberts (1950-1952)
- Clemente Ruiz-Nazario (1952-1966)
- Hiram Rafael Cáncio (1965-1966)
During this period, judges for the District of Puerto Rico were appointed by the President for 4-year terms until 1938, and thereafter for 8-year terms. The court statutorily comprised a single judge until 1961, when a second judgeship was authorized by Congress, although the position was not actually filled until 1965. Until the 1950s, when the District Court judgeship was vacant, when the judge was away from Puerto Rico, or when the court's docket became overly backlogged, sitting judges of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico were designated to act as judges of the federal court.
Judge Ruiz-Nazario, appointed by President Harry Truman in 1952, was the first Puerto Rican to serve as a judge of Puerto Rico's federal court.
United States Magistrate Judges
- Chief Magistrate Judge Justo Arenas
- Magistrate Judge Camille L. Velez-Rive
- Magistrate Judge Bruce McGiverin
- Magistrate Judge Marcos López
External links
References
Guillermo A. Baralt, History of the Federal Court in Puerto Rico: 1899-1999 (2004) (also published in Spanish as Historia del Tribunal Federal de Puerto Rico)
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