Héctor Martínez Muñoz (December 14, 1924 – November 14, 1991) was the first member of the

Supreme Court of Puerto Rico The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico () is the highest court of Puerto Rico, having judicial authority to interpret and decide questions of Puerto Rican law. The Court is analogous to one of the state supreme courts of the states of the United State ...

appointed by Governor

Luis A. Ferré Don Luis Alberto Ferré Aguayo (February 17, 1904 October 21, 2003) was a Puerto Rican engineer, industrialist, politician, philanthropist, and patron of the arts. He was the governor of Puerto Rico from 1969 to 1973. He was the founder of the ...

and confirmed by an opposition-controlled

Senate of Puerto Rico The Senate of Puerto Rico () is the upper house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The Senate, together with the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico, control the legislative branch of ...

presided by

Rafael Hernández Colón Rafael Hernández Colón (October 24, 1936 – May 2, 2019) was a Puerto Rican politician who served as the governor of Puerto Rico from 1973 to 1977 and 1985 to 1993 for a total of three terms. An experienced politician, Hernández held the ...

. Born in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan ( , ; Spanish for "Saint John the Baptist, John") is the capital city and most populous Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the ...

, Martínez obtained a B.A. from

Virginia State University Virginia State University (VSU or Virginia State) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically Black land-grant university, land-grant university in Ettrick, Virginia, United States. Founded on , Vi ...

and a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

degree in 1951 from the

University of Puerto Rico School of Law The University of Puerto Rico School of Law is the law school of the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras, the only law school in the University of Puerto Rico System and the only public law school in Puerto Rico. It was founded in 1913 at ...

. During twenty years he practiced law in the private sector but served ''ad honorem'' on the State Board of Education, as a Bar examiner and on the Legislative Committee of the

Puerto Rico Bar Association The Bar Association of Puerto Rico (BAPR) or ''Colegio de Abogados de Puerto Rico (CAPR)'' is the bar association of Puerto Rico. It is the oldest professional association in Puerto Rico, and among the oldest bar associations in the world. The ...

. In 1971, Gov. Ferré, after withdrawing two nominations that the opposition-led Senate was going to reject, appointed Martínez as Associate Justice. Negotiations with the Senate led to his confirmation, assuming his post on the bench on June 12, 1971. After

Luis Negrón Fernández Luis Felipe Negrón Fernández (April 29, 1910 - December 1, 1986) was a Puerto Rican jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico and later as the ninth chief justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico from 1971 t ...

resigned on September 15, 1972 after a second stint as Chief Justice, Ferré nominated Martínez for Chief Justice but the

Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico The Popular Democratic Party (, PPD) is a political party in Puerto Rico that advocates to continue as a Commonwealth of the United States with self-governance. The party was founded in 1938 by dissidents from the Liberal Party of Puerto Rico, Pu ...

majority in the Senate rejected his elevation to the court's top post. Less than a year later, Martínez resigned from the bench and returned to private practice. In the late 1970s, Governor

Carlos Romero Barceló Carlos Antonio Romero Barceló (September 4, 1932 – May 2, 2021) was a Puerto Rican politician who served as the governor of Puerto Rico from 1977 to 1985. He was the second governor to be elected from the New Progressive Party (PNP). He als ...

appointed him to several ''ad honorem'' posts, including the Governor's Judicial Nominations Advisory Committee and the Puerto Rico Council on Higher Education. Justice Héctor Martínez Muñoz died in San Juan at the age of 66.

Sources

*''La Justicia en sus Manos'' by Luis Rafael Rivera, Associate justices of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico Puerto Rican lawyers Virginia State University alumni 1924 births 1991 deaths 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American judges {{PuertoRico-bio-stub