⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The First Circuit considers when Puerto Rico can be sued over alleged police misconduct. A woman brought federal civil-rights and Puerto Rico tort claims alleging excessive force by police officers. She also sought to hold the Commonwealth and its police agency liable. The district court dismissed the claims against those government defendants on immunity grounds, without deciding whether the officers had used unlawful force. The appeal is being heard together with a second police-related case. The plaintiffs will ask the court to reconsider treating Puerto Rico like a state for sovereign immunity, a protection against being sued in federal court. They will rely on a Supreme Court decision about Puerto Rico's powers and double jeopardy, the constitutional protection against repeated prosecutions for the same offense. That criminal-law ruling did not itself decide this civil-immunity question. The judges will also focus on Section nineteen eighty-three, which allows suits for violations of federal rights by people acting under government authority. Whether Puerto Rico counts as a suable person under that law is distinct from its constitutional immunity. There is also a procedural hurdle: whether the challenged rulings are final enough to appeal now. The Commonwealth will argue that these appeals fail that requirement.

Roldan-Cruz v. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (No. 24-1803) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, argued November 2, 2026.