- Juan R. Torruella
Juan R. Torruella (born
1933 ) is a Puerto Rican jurist, who currently serves as ajudge on theUnited States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit . He is the first and to date onlyHispanic to serve in that court.Education
Torrruella holds a degree from the
University of Pennsylvania 'sWharton School of Business . He later received hislaw degree in1957 fromBoston University School of Law . Additionally, he holds Masters Degrees from theUniversity of Virginia , theUniversity of Puerto Rico , andOxford University .Legal career
Torruella began his career in private practice in
San Juan, Puerto Rico in1959 . In1974 , PresidentGerald Ford nominated Torruella to serve as a judge of theUnited States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico . In this court Torruella served asChief Judge from1982 to 1984.In 1984, President
Ronald Reagan elevated Judge Torruella to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. He was confirmed by the Senate that year and became the first hispanic to serve in that court. He served asChief Judge of the court from1994 to2001 replacing Chief JudgeStephen Breyer who was appointed an Associate Justice of theSupreme Court of the United States .Torruella has consistently been an advocate of Puerto Rican rights and dissented from a 2005 ruling that Puerto Ricans are properly denied a voice in the election of the
President of the United States because Puerto Rico is not a State. On the bench, Torruella is considered to be a moderate. He has ruled in favor ofabortion , including the First Circuit Court's Opinion onAyotte v. Planned Parenthood .Torruella is the author of the book "The Supreme Court and Puerto Rico: The Doctrine of Separate and Unequal" (University of Puerto Rico: 1988), a study of the Supreme Court's decisions in the
Insular Cases .###@@@KEY@@@###succession box| title=Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit| before=
Stephen Breyer | after=Michael Boudin | years=1994-2001| succession box| title=Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit| before=(none) | after=incumbent | years=1984-present|External links
* [http://air.fjc.gov/servlet/uGetInfo?jid=2400 Biography at Federal Court Site]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.