José A. Cabranes

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José Alberto Cabranes (born 1940 in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico), formerly an educator, is the second Puerto Rican to be appointed as a judge of a United States Court of Appeals.

Judge José Alberto Cabranes

Cabranes was born into a family of educators. His father was one of the first professionally trained social workers in Puerto Rico. In 1946, his family moved to New York City and settled in the South Bronx. Cabranes received his primary and secondary education in the city's public school system.

In 1957, Cabranes graduated from high school and enrolled at Columbia University. There he earned his Bachelors of Arts Degree in 1961. He continued his college education by enrolling at Yale University, where in 1965 he earned his Law Degree. Cabranes was awarded a Kellett Research Fellowship from Columbia College to study international law at Queens' College, University of Cambridge in England. In 1967, he earned his M.Litt (Masters of Letters) Degree in International Law.

Cabranes returned to New York City to practice law. He became an associate law professor at Rutgers University in 1971, and in 1973, he was appointed to represent Puerto Rico in Washington, D.C. as head of the Office of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and Special Counsel to the Governor of Puerto Rico. In 1975, Cabranes became the General Counsel of Yale University and continued to teach international law in that institution. During this period, Cabranes authored Citizenship and the American Empire, a legislative history of the Jones-Shafroth Act of 1917, which conferred United States citizenship on Puerto Ricans.

As a private citizen, he was a founding member of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. Cabranes also served as Chair of the Board of Directors of ASPIRA, an organization founded by Antonia Pantoja which helps inner-city Hispanic youth.

On the recommendation of Senator Abraham A. Ribicoff, President Jimmy Carter nominated Cabranes on November 6, 1979 to the United States District of the District of Connecticut. He was confirmed on December 10, 1979, thus becoming the first Puerto Rican to hold this position in the continental United States. On May 24, 1994, President Bill Clinton nominated him to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, based in New York. His nomination was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on August 9, 1994. Cabranes, thus becoming the second Puerto Rican named to a U.S. Court of Appeals, after Juan R. Torruella who was appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1984 to the First Circuit. Cabranes also became the first Hispanic judge to serve on the Second Circuit.

Former Clinton administration adviser George Stephanopoulos wrote in his autobiography "All Too Human" that Cabranes was considered by President Clinton for appointment to the seat on the Supreme Court of the United States that ultimately went to Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Cabranes would have been the first Latino Supreme Court justice.

Among the many awards and recognitions bestowed upon Cabranes are the following:

Gavel Award (Certificate of Merit) of the American Bar Association
John Jay Award from Columbia University
Connecticut Bar Association Henry J. Naruk Judiciary Award
Federal Bar Council's Learned Hand Medal for Excellence in Federal Jurisprudence

Cabranes and his wife, Kate Stith, a law professor at Yale, authored Fear of Judging; Sentencing Guidelines in the Federal Courts (University of Chicago, 1998). Cabranes also authored Citizenship and the American Empire (Yale, 1979).