José A. Cabranes

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José A. Cabranes

U.S. appeals court judge, 2nd Circuit
Incumbent
Assumed office August 9, 1994
Nominated by	Bill Clinton

Born	December 22, 1940 (1940-12-22) (age 67) Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
Nationality	Puerto Rico
Alma mater	Columbia University Yale University

José Alberto Cabranes (born December 22, 1940), formerly an educator, is the first Puerto Rican appointed to a federal judgeship in the continental United States and the second Puerto Rican to be appointed as a judge of a United States Court of Appeals.

1 Early years
2 Positions held
3 Federal judgeship
4 Awards and recognitions
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Early years

Cabranes was born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico into a family of educators. His father was also 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 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.

[edit] Positions held

Cabranes returned to New York City to practice law. He became an associate professor of law 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 the people of Puerto Rico.

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.

[edit] Federal judgeship

On the recommendation of Senator Abraham A. Ribicoff, President Jimmy Carter nominated Cabranes on November 6, 1979 to the United States District Court for 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 unanimously 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 had been 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: A Political Education" that in 1993 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. Newspaper accounts in 1994 reported that he was considered also in 1994 for the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Harry Blackmun, which ultimately was filled by Stephen Breyer.

[edit] Awards and recognitions

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 and sister of judge Laura Denvir Stith of the Missouri Supreme Court, authored Fear of Judging; Sentencing Guidelines in the Federal Courts (University of Chicago, 1998). Cabranes also authored Citizenship and the American Empire (Yale, 1979).