The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston ruled on February 15, 2019, that members of the Fiscal Oversight Management Board (“FOMB”) in Puerto Rico, the federally created oversight board, were unconstitutionally appointed, since the board members were not appointed according to the U.S. Constitution’s appointments clause, which calls for the President to seek Senate advice and consent to confirm a U.S. officer. Puerto Rican-born, U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Juan R. Torruella, said in his opinion that FOMB members must be selected in a manner consistent with the appointments clause and gave the U.S. President and the Senate 90 days to make new appointmentsto the panel.
