Puerto Rico Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz sharply criticized Supreme Court Chief Justice Maite Oronoz Rodríguez after she asked Governor Jenniffer González to veto Senate Bill 1096, which proposes a judicial reform. Rivera Schatz said that if she believes the measure violates the Constitution, she should go to the courts to challenge it. He also questioned that Oronoz Rodríguez made the public appeal while the Supreme Court has before it a government lawsuit against LUMA Energy, saying that situation could affect the judiciary’s "ethical design."
He asked whether other judges in the court system could make similar public statements. In a social media post, he defended what he called the "dignity of silence" and warned that "The shout is not always so!" in referring to the persuasive power of public pronouncements. He also said Puerto Rico has no monarchs in any of its three branches of government and rejected what he described as hysteria, desperation, authoritarianism and impunity.
The controversy began after Oronoz Rodríguez warned that the reform approved by the Legislature threatens the independence and functioning of the Judicial Branch. The bill would redistribute certain administrative powers between the Chief Justice’s office and the full Supreme Court. The measure is before the governor for her signature or veto.