The Puerto Rico Supreme Court will decide if Pedro Pierluisi, the former resident commissioner who is seen as an ally of the federal board overseeing the territory's debt restructuring, is the new governor.
Around 5 p.m. on Friday Ricardo Rosselló resigned his position as expected and Pierluisi was sworn in to replace him, which was generally not expected.
Earlier in the week Rosselló had nominated Pierluisi to be secretary of state, who is first in line to succeed governors under the Puerto Rico Constitution. On Friday afternoon the Puerto Rico House of Representatives approved Pierluisi as Secretary of State.
Rosselló was forced to resign amid protests over alleged government corruption and a series of leaked chats between him and administration officials. He had clashed with the Oversight Board over austerity measures intended to restore fiscal balance.
As resident commissioner, Pierluisi had pushed the U.S. for the legislation that created the Oversight Board, along with the bankruptcy process that's allowing the territory and its public corporations to slash billions from the amount owed to bondholders. Since leaving the position as Puerto Rico's non-voting representative in Congress, Pierluisi has worked for the Oversight Board's law firm.
The constitution says that the Puerto Rico Senate must approve the secretary of state. Puerto Rico Senate Pres. Thomas Rivera Schatz scheduled the hearing and vote on Pierluisi for this week, after Rosselló had said he would resign.
Puerto Rico passed a law in 2005 that said in an emergency an unconfirmed secretary of state could become the permanent governor. Rosselló cited this law when justifying Pierluisi’s swearing in Friday evening.
On Friday evening at a press conference, Pierluisi said he would resign his position if the Puerto Rico Senate had a hearing and voted against him early this week. On Sunday he seemed to backtrack on this and then on Monday he seemed to restate it.
Over the weekend and on Monday Rivera Schatz and San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz filed suits to declare Pierluisi’s swearing in as governor to be illegal. On Monday the Puerto Rico Supreme Court agreed to immediately consider Rivera Schatz’s case, taking it out of the hands of a lower Puerto Rico court.
On Monday afternoon the Puerto Rico Senate had a hearing on Pierluisi’s assumption of power. Most of those senators who offered their view, spoke against it. However, Rivera Schatz said it wasn’t appropriate for the Senate to vote on it at this point and that the matter should be left to the local Supreme Court. He said that five Senators would have voted for Pierluisi and that Pierluisi would have needed 15 votes to be approved.
The Supreme Court has given until noon on Tuesday for parties to submit documents for the case.
On Monday evening Pierluisi released a statement that said: “Given that today the Senate did not cast a vote and that the vast majority of the Senators did not have the opportunity to express themselves concerning my governorship, with the utmost deference to the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, I will wait for its decision, trusting that what is best for Puerto Rico will prevail.
“The people of Puerto Rico may rest assured that its government will continue to fulfill its mission without interruption or delay,” Pierluisi continued.
If the court were to rule against Pierluisi, the constitution says Secretary of Justice Wanda Vázquez Garced is next in line to the governorship and most observers say that she would be sworn in.
Vázquez Garced has said she doesn’t want to be governor but is ready to take the role if necessary. It is possible that she would become governor for a short period, during which she might name a secretary of state, have him or her legislatively-approved, and then resign.
While many observers say Pierluisi would work more closely with the board than Rosselló had, there is little evidence concerning Vázquez Garced’s fiscal and economic outlook.
