Juan R. Torruella facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Juan R. Torruella
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| Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit | |
| In office August 3, 1994 – June 15, 2001 |
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| Preceded by | Stephen Breyer |
| Succeeded by | Michael Boudin |
| Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit | |
| In office October 4, 1984 – October 26, 2020 |
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| Appointed by | Ronald Reagan |
| Preceded by | Seat established by 98 Stat. 333 |
| Succeeded by | Gustavo Gelpí |
| Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico | |
| In office September 8, 1982 – October 30, 1984 |
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| Preceded by | Hernan Gregorio Pesquera |
| Succeeded by | Juan Pérez-Giménez |
| Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico | |
| In office December 20, 1974 – October 30, 1984 |
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| Appointed by | Gerald Ford |
| Preceded by | Hiram Rafael Cancio |
| Succeeded by | José A. Fusté |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Juan Rafael Torruella del Valle
June 7, 1933 San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| Died | October 26, 2020 (aged 87) San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| Education | University of Pennsylvania (BS) Boston University School of Law (JD) University of Virginia School of Law (LLM) University of Puerto Rico (MPA) Magdalen College, Oxford University (MSt) |
Juan Rafael Torruella del Valle Sr. (June 7, 1933 – October 26, 2020) was a Puerto Rican jurist. He served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit from 1984 until his death, and as chief judge of that court from 1994 to 2001. He was the first Hispanic to serve on the First Circuit, which includes Puerto Rico.
Before becoming an appellate judge, he served as a district judge on the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico from 1974 to 1984. He was also a competitive sailor, competing for the Puerto Rican team at the Summer Olympic Games in 1964, 1968, 1972, and 1976.
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Education and career
Torruella was born in Old San Juan, on June 7, 1933, to Juan N. Torruella and Belén del Valle de Torruella. His father was a dentist who became a lawyer.
Torruella graduated from the Admiral Farragut Academy in Pine Beach, New Jersey. He received his Bachelor of Science from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1954, his Juris Doctor from Boston University School of Law in 1957, his Master of Laws from University of Virginia School of Law in 1984, and a Master of Public Administration from University of Puerto Rico School of Public Administration in 1984. His LL.M. work focused on judicial process. In 2003, Torruella received a Master of Studies in modern European history from Magdalen College, Oxford.
Torruella became a member of International Council Of Arbitration for Sport in 2006, and served as Deputy President of the CAS Ordinary Arbitration Division from 2010 to 2014.
Career as a lawyer
Although he intended to practice law in Massachusetts following his graduation from law school, Torruella did not take the Massachusetts bar examination because he contracted a serious case of the mumps the day before the exam. He instead returned to Puerto Rico and was admitted to the bar there. He served as law clerk to Associate Justice Pedro Pimentel of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court, and then worked for three years for the National Labor Relations Board in an investigations and litigation role in Puerto Rico. His practice was mostly in civil law, including admiralty, aviation, and labor law, but he also served as court-appointed counsel in some criminal cases. Torruella was in private practice of law in San Juan from 1959 to 1974, where he handled cases in both the federal courts and the Puerto Rico courts. He first worked at the law firm of Fiddler, Gonzalez & Rodriguez for eight years, becoming a partner at the firm. Torruella then became a solo practitioner, and then practiced law in partnership with Jaime Pieras, Jr., who later became a federal district judge.
Federal judicial service
District court service
Torruella was nominated by President Gerald Ford on November 18, 1974, to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico vacated by Judge Hiram Rafael Cancio. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 18, 1974, and received his commission two days later. He served as chief judge from 1982 to 1984. His service was terminated on October 30, 1984, due to his elevation to the First Circuit.
In 1979, Torruella was the judge in various criminal trespass cases against demonstrators who entered a beach in Vieques to protest its use by the U.S. Navy. Torruella ordered that the demonstrators receive separate trials. Some defendants were sentenced to prison; others received six-month suspended sentences. Some of the demonstrators were radical pro-independence advocates and refused to acknowledge the federal court's jurisdiction or to defend themselves at trial. The Vieques cases were the highest-profile of Torruella's cases over his decade as a district judge.
Court of appeals service
Torruella was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on August 1, 1984, to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, to a new seat created by 98 Stat. 333. He was confirmed by the Senate on October 3, 1984 by voice vote. He received his commission the following day, becoming the first Puerto Rican to serve on the circuit court bench. José A. Fusté replaced Torruella on the district bench.
Torruella served as chief judge of the First Circuit from 1994 to 2001. Although his length of service entitled him to assume senior status, Torruella chose to remain a judge on active service and continued to hear cases until his death in 2020.
Sailing career
Torruella competed for Puerto Rico in four Olympic sailing events:
- 1964: Enoshima in the Finn (31st)
- 1968: Acapulco in the Flying Dutchman (28th)
- 1972: Kiel in the Flying Dutchman (27th)
- 1976: Kingston in the Soling (22nd)
Torruella was captain of the Puerto Rican team in each of the four Olympics. He also competed in the 1975 and 1979 Pan American Games. In the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Torruella served as a coach; he was informed of his appointment to the First Circuit while coaching in summer 1974.
As a yachtsman, Torruella made several long-distance sea voyages, including two trans-Atlantic crossings in 1992, on the 500th anniversary of Columbus's first voyage; a few years later, Torruella undertook an 8,000-mile sailing trip across the Caribbean Sea and Panama Canal to the Pacific Ocean, where he visited the Galápagos Islands and Puerto Montt, Chile, before traveling to Buenos Aires, Argentina, via Cape Horn.
Personal life and death
Torruella met his wife, Judith (Judy) Wirt in 1955 and had two sons, two daughters, eight grandchildren, and numerous great-grandchildren. Torruella died on October 26, 2020, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at the age of 87.
