Know a Nominee: Judge Gustavo Gelpí to the First Circuit Court of Appeals

UPDATE 10/18

• The Senate on Monday voted 52-41 to confirm Judge Gustavo Gelpí’s nomination to the First Circuit Court of Appeals.
• Republican Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Rick Scott (R-FL) joined Democrats by voting in favor.

UPDATE 10/7

• Before the Senate began its October recess, senators voted 54-39 to limit debate on Gelpí’s nomination, as Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Rick Scott (R-FL) joined Democrats by voting in favor. 

The Senate is expected to consider the nomination of Judge Gustavo Gelpí to the First Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday. Here’s what you need to know about the nominee:

Who is Judge Gustavo Gelpí?

• Gelpí, 55, is a federal judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. He was nominated to that role by President George W. Bush in 2006 and was confirmed unanimously by the Senate that year. He has served as the chief judge of the district since 2018.
• He earned his undergraduate degree from Brandeis University and his law degree from Suffolk University Law School. After law school, he clerked for Judge Juan Perez-Gimenez of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico from 1991 to 1993.
• Gelpí then worked as a federal public defender from 1993 to 1997; in the Puerto Rico Dept. of Justice from 1997 to 1999; as Puerto Rico’s solicitor general from 1999 to 2000; and then in private practice. He then worked as a U.S. magistrate judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico from 2001 to 2006 before his nomination to serve as a federal judge of that court.
• If confirmed, Gelpí would be the second Hispanic judge and the second judge from Puerto Rico serve on the First Circuit.

What’s the outlook for his confirmation?

• The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Gelpí’s nomination in July on a mostly party-line vote of 12-10, in which Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) joined Democrats by voting in favor.
• Committee Republicans questioned Gelpí about a book he wrote that was critical of a series of Supreme Court rulings regarding the relationship between the federal government and territories including Puerto Rico that were obtained after the Spanish-American War. 
• Gelpí said his criticism of the cases was focused on the “historical aspect” of the rulings, which were decided by essentially the same Supreme Court that upheld racial segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson, and added that he couldn’t say how his “constitutional position” would impact territories like American Samoa if he were to hear such a case.
• The American Bar Association’s judicial nominations rating board gave Gelpí a rating of “well qualified” that was unanimous except for one panelist who recused themselves.

What does it mean for the First Circuit?

• Gelpí’s confirmation would fill a vacancy that opened on October 26, 2020, following the death of Judge Juan Torruella, a Ronald Reagan nominee who was the first Hispanic and Puerto Rican to serve on the First Circuit. Torruella’s duty station was in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
• The First Circuit has six active judgeships. Of the five judges currently on the bench, one was nominated by Bill Clinton, one by George W. Bush, and three by Barack Obama.

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: iStock / imaginima)