Rosa Emilia Rodríguez

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rosa Emilia Rodríguez is the United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico. A career prosecutor, first in the Puerto Rico Department of Justice and subsequently in the U.S. Attorney's office in San Juan, she has been nominated by President George W. Bush as United States Attorney. Her nomination is (theoretically) still pending consideration in the United States Senate, after being approved unanimously in the Senate Judiciary Committee, where at least one unidentified senator had placed a seven-day 'hold' on her nomination. Prior to the end of her 120-day appointment by the Attorney General as acting United States Attorney, the judges of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico authorized Chief Judge José A. Fusté to extend her appointment for four years, until October 12, 2011. On October 13, 2011 she was sworn into a second term by Chief Judge Aida Delgado after a unanimous decision by the six members of the District Court. This term can only be cut short if her nomination is voted down by the United States Senate, or if President Barack Obama appoints another person as acting U.S. Attorney.

Appointed by then Governor Carlos Romero Barceló as a local district attorney in 1979, Rodríguez subsequently crossed over to the federal level, serving in different prosecution and managerial roles within the United States Attorney's office. Her office took charge of a federal grand jury investigation regarding the finances of Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá's campaign committees when running for Resident Commissioner in 1999-2000 and for Governor in 2003-04.

Her office was responsible for the indictments of over 90 physicians accused of participating in a conspiracy to illegally license MD's who had not passed Puerto Rico's medical license tests and of ten Puerto Rico Police Department agents charged with drug trafficking, planting false evidence and fabricating cases against innocent citizens, as part of an ongoing police corruption investigation.

Former Governor of Puerto Rico and then Resident Commissioner Luis G. Fortuño accused Acevedo Vilá of using public funds to finance a lobbying campaign to prevent Rodríguez from obtaining confirmation in the United States Senate. In response, Puerto Rico Senate President Kenneth McClintock on July 20, 2007 ordered a legislative investigation into the matter. During Senate hearings, Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration director Eduardo Bhatia admitted that government resources were used to pay Republican lobbyist Charles Black to hold meetings regarding Rodríguez' nomination.

See also


References

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.