Juan Pérez-Giménez

Juan Manuel Pérez-Giménez (March 28, 1941 – December 10, 2020) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.

Education and career

Born in

On October 23, 1979, Pérez-Giménez was nominated by President Jimmy Carter to a new seat on the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico created by 92 Stat. 1629. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 5, 1979, and received his commission the following day. He served as Chief Judge from 1984 to 1991, and assumed senior status on March 28, 2006.^[1] Pérez-Giménez died on December 10, 2020, at the age of 79. He had just marked his 41st year as a district court judge on December 5, 2020.^[2]

Controversial case

On October 21, 2014, Pérez-Giménez upheld Puerto Rico's ban on same-sex marriage, but the 1st Circuit sent the case back to the trial court after the Supreme Court's June 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges striking down marriage bans nationwide. The appeals court ordered Pérez-Giménez to "further consider" the matter "in light of Obergefell," adding that the appeals court judges "agree with the parties…that the ban is unconstitutional." Nonetheless, in March 2016, Pérez-Giménez upheld the ban for a second time, ruling that the Supreme Court's ruling does not apply to a territory like Puerto Rico. On April 7, 2016, the Court of Appeals overturned Pérez-Giménez' ruling in a caustic benchslap, stating that it "errs in so many respects that it is hard to know where to begin." The case was assigned to a different judge for final disposition.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• List of Hispanic and Latino American jurists
• List of United States federal judges by longevity of service

References

Sources

• Juan Manuel Perez-Gimenez at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.