A total of 101 law professors from Puerto Rico’s three law schools have spoken out against the proposed judicial reform now before Governor Jenniffer González Colón, asking her to veto it. They argue that Senate Bill 1096, approved by the Legislative Assembly, alters the design of the Constitution and cannot be enacted through the usual process of passing a law.
Constitutional amendments require high legislative vote thresholds and must then be ratified in an election. Their letter says the bill proposes substantial changes to the structure and administration of the Judiciary and raises serious constitutional objections and operational risks that could affect judicial independence, the protection of rights and access to justice. The bill eliminates municipal judges and removes administrative powers from the Supreme Court chief justiceship, currently held by Maite Oronoz, who was appointed by the Popular Democratic Party, transferring them to the court’s majority, appointed by the New Progressive Party, to which Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz belongs and which he has led.
The professors also cite the lack of a fiscal evaluation, uncertain funding sources, duplication of functions and harm to the branch’s stability, adding that "the concern is institutional, not personal." Signers come from the University of Puerto Rico, Inter American University and Pontifical Catholic University law schools, including former judges Ana Paulina Cruz, Alfonso Martínez Piovanetti and Susana Serrano, former Justice Secretary William Vázquez, and Bar Association presidents Vivian Godineaux (former) and Yanira Reyes Gil (current).