San Juan, PR – May 11, 2023 – The Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico today issued the following statement:
The Oversight Board welcomes the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision today to affirm the Oversight Board’s sovereign immunity as an entity within the Government of Puerto Rico.
Centro de Periodismo Investigativo Inc. (CPI) had sued the Oversight Board to obtain a vast number of documents. The Oversight Board moved to dismiss CPI’s complaints on sovereign-immunity and other grounds. A divided First Circuit panel affirmed the decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico denying the Oversight Board’s motion to dismiss the complaint.
The Oversight Board argued at the Supreme Court it is a bedrock principle of federalism that a federal statute does not abrogate sovereign immunity unless Congress’s intent to abrogate is “unmistakably clear” in the statutory text.
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled: “The statute does not explicitly strip the Board of immunity. It does not expressly authorize the bringing of claims against the Board.”