By The Star Staff
Gov. Jenniffer González Colón has appointed Camille Rivera Pérez and Raúl Candelario López as new associate justices of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court.
They will fill the vacant seats on the Supreme Court left by Justice Edgardo Rivera García, who retired on Jan. 3, and Justice Anabelle Rodríguez Rodríguez, who retired on Dec. 18, 2020. Both judges retired upon reaching the age of 70, which is the age limit for serving on the island’s top court.
Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz welcomed the appointment and gave assurances that confirmation hearings will be held as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Carlos “Johnny” Méndez Nuñez welcomed the speed with which the governor addressed the vacancies in the Supreme Court, showing that she wants the island’s important cases to be taken up with urgency.
Independent Sen. Eliezer Molina Pérez, on the other hand, called the appointment of Candelario López “totally incestuous.”
“Now it turns out that Judge Candelario, whose brother worked for [New Progressive Party Electoral Commissioner] Aníbal Vega Borges, is nominated for associate justice of the Supreme Court,” Molina Pérez said during the regular session of the Senate on Thursday. “How can we talk about democracy and the fight against corruption if politicians appoint those who will judge their actions? It is incestuous.”
He also announced that his office would be publishing a document that he said would send “a powerful message” against what he described as government inefficiency and the prevalence of political interests over social interests.
“Federal entities must be held accountable for watching from the sidelines how our people are destroyed,” the activist-turned-senator said. “This will end today.”
Rivera Pérez began her professional career as a legal officer in the Court of Appeals in 2002. From 2005, she worked in the island House of Representatives as a legal adviser to the Committee on Government, Federal and Veteran Affairs, eventually becoming the panel’s executive director in 2006.
In March 2010, then-Gov. Luis Fortuño appointed Rivera Pérez as a superior judge, and she was assigned to the Fajardo Judicial Region, where she presided over various chambers.
In July 2021, Rivera Pérez was appointed as a member of the Children’s Justice Act Multidisciplinary Committee of the Family Department. On Feb. 24, 2022, she was appointed as an appeals court judge.
Raised in Las Marías and a graduate of public schools, Rivera Pérez obtained her law degree (Cum Laude) from Pontifical Catholic University, after graduating Cum Laude from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in accounting.
Candelario López began his career in 1993 as a legal adviser in the House, where he contributed to legislative analysis and drafting. In 1995, he was appointed assistant attorney in the Department of Justice, a position he held for over a decade, representing both victims and defendants in judicial proceedings.
From 2006 to 2012, Candelario López worked as an adviser in the Capitol Superintendency, managing legal and administrative aspects. He was appointed superior judge of the Puerto Rico Court of First Instance in March 2019, after being nominated by then-Gov. Ricardo Rosselló Nevares and confirmed by the Senate under the presidency of Rivera Schatz.
Candelario López obtained his Juris Doctor degree from Pontifical Catholic University in 1992 and holds a bachelor’s degree in arts and social sciences with a concentration in political science and public administration from the same institution.
The island Supreme Court is composed of nine judges; currently it has seven acting judges and two vacancies.
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