A. Cecil Snyder

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Aaron Cecil Snyder (September 14, 1907 – June 29, 1959) was an American lawyer who served as a prosecutor and judge in Puerto Rico.

Early life

Snyder was born in

Snyder practiced law briefly in New York City and Baltimore. In 1933, Maryland Senator Millard Tydings, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Territories, arranged for Snyder's appointment as United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico. As U.S. Attorney, he prosecuted Puerto Rican independence activist Pedro Albizu Campos and defended then-Senate President Luis Muñoz Marín at U.S. Senate hearings on Muñoz's allegedly communist leanings.

Supreme Court of Puerto Rico

In 1942, President

In 1953, Governor Luis Muñoz Marín, following a long-standing tradition of appointing the most senior Associate Justice as Chief Justice when a vacancy arose, appointed him Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, the first appointment that a Puerto Rican governor made to the court, addressing the nomination to "A. Cecilio Snyder". Snyder actually used the name "Cecilio" when sworn in as Chief Justice.

Resignation

Four years later, in July 1957, after most of Puerto Rico's legal establishment had lost confidence in Snyder's leadership as Chief Justice, he resigned from the court effective September 15, 1957. He was succeeded as Chief Justice by Associate Justice Jaime Sifre Dávila. After his departure from the court, Snyder practiced law in San Juan, Puerto Rico until his death in 1959.

See also

• List of Puerto Ricans
• Jewish immigration to Puerto Rico

Sources

• La Justicia en sus Manos, by Luis Rafael Rivera, 2007,
  ISBN 1-57581-884-1

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