On Tuesday, February 14, the U.S. Senate confirmed Judge Gina Méndez-Miró to serve on the U.S. District Court for Puerto Rico.
Judge Méndez-Miró is the third woman to join the federal court in Puerto Rico within the past year. Judges Camille Vélez Rivé and María Antongiorgi Jordán were both confirmed in the last Senate session after being nominated by President Biden.
Born in San Juan in 1974, Judge Méndez-Miró received her undergraduate degree from the University of Puerto Rico. She completed her Masters’s degree at Princeton and her J.D. at the University of Puerto Rico School of Law. She participated in Criminal Legal Assistance Clinic as a student and then went into private practice. Her public service began with the Puerto Rico Department of Justice, where she served as an Assistant Attorney General for Human Resources. Other positions she held in the department included the Director of Judicial Programs and the General Counsel and Director of the Legal Affairs Office.
In 2013, Méndez-Miró accepted the position of Chief of Staff for the President of the Puerto Rico Senate, Eduardo Bhatia. In 2016, she was appointed to the Puerto Rico Court of Appeals. She is a member of the Hispanic National Bar Association, International Association of LGBTQ+ Judges, and International Association of Women Judges.
Diversity among judges
Méndez-Miró is the 100th judge appointed by the Biden administration. According to the Washington Blade, 65 of these judges are women and 68 of are people of color. “[S]trengthening the federal judiciary with extraordinarily qualified judges who are devoted to our Constitution and the rule of law has been among my proudest work in office,” said Biden. “I’m especially proud that the nominees I have put forward—and the Senate has confirmed—represent the diversity that is one of our best assets as a nation, and that our shared work has broken so many barriers in just 2 years.”
“Our courts should reflect the diversity of our nation,” Al-Dia quoted Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) as saying. “With the confirmation of Gina Méndez-Miró, we’ll now have three female jurists in the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, strengthening the legal expertise on that bench, and bringing much needed gender diversity to Puerto Rico’s federal courts.”
Méndez-Miró is known as a champion of women’s rights and a strong advocate in cases of domestic violence, as well as an expert on labor relations and workers’ rights.
