Who appointed José Antonio Fusté?

President Ronald Reagan appointed José Antonio Fusté to the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico in 1985.

Was José Antonio Fusté appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

José Antonio Fusté was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was José Antonio Fusté's confirmation vote?

José Antonio Fusté was confirmed by voice vote on October 25, 1985. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

District of Puerto Rico / Appointed 1985 / Served to 2016

José Antonio Fusté

Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico

Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1985 and confirmed by voice vote, José Antonio Fusté was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. He earned a law degree from University of Puerto Rico School of Law in 1968. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1943 · age 83
Appointed by: Ronald Reagan, 1985
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: University of Puerto Rico 1965 · University of Puerto Rico Law 1968
Succeeded: Juan R. Torruella
Succeeded by: Raúl Manuel Arias-Marxuach

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1985	District of Puerto Rico succeeded Juan R. Torruella	Reagan (R)	Voice vote

Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own. A voice vote means the chamber approved aloud. No senator-by-senator tally is recorded.

Confirmation vote

Voice vote

The Senate approved this confirmation aloud, with no senator-by-senator tally recorded. Recorded roll-call votes begin in 1989.

Education

University of Puerto Rico	B.B.A.	1965
University of Puerto Rico School of Law	LL.B.	1968

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Fusté was assigned 4,110 district-court cases (1985–2016). Median time from filing to termination: 256 days across 4,110 closed cases.

Real property16%

Contract16%

Personal-injury torts14%

Civil rights12%

Prisoner & habeas9%

Social Security8%

Other25%

Case assignment is from CourtListener’s PACER-derived docket records: a partial sample, not a complete caseload, reflecting the judge last assigned each case. How we count.

On appeal

Of 205 of Fusté’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 155 were affirmed, 24 reversed or vacated, and 26 affirmed in part and reversed in part. This is a historical count of appellate outcomes for cases we could match, not a judgment of the judge, and not a complete record. How we count.

In our data, Fusté authored 350 published opinions for the court (1985–2011). Most cited: Hernández-Mejías v. General Electric (95 citations).

A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.

Recent & notable rulings

Year	Case	Citation	Cited
2005	Hernández-Mejías v. General Electric	428 F. Supp. 2d 4	95
1998	Alicea-Rivera v. Sindicato De Aseguradores Para La Suscripcion Conjunta De Seguro De Responsabilidad Medico-Hospitalaria	12 F. Supp. 2d 243	58
1990	Association of Relatives & Friends of Aids Patients v. Regulations & Permits Administration or Administracion De Reglamentos Y Permisos	740 F. Supp. 95	38
1995	United States v. Santiago-Lugo	904 F. Supp. 43	26
1991	Rodriguez v. Banco Central	777 F. Supp. 1043	26
1990	Casa Marie, Inc. v. Superior Court of Puerto Rico for the District of Arecibo	752 F. Supp. 1152	26
1989	Franco v. Prudential Bache Securities, Inc.	719 F. Supp. 63	25
1987	General Office Products Corp. v. Gussco Manufacturing, Inc.	666 F. Supp. 328	25
1996	Sanabria v. United States	916 F. Supp. 106	22
1994	In Re DuPont-Benlate Litigation	859 F. Supp. 619	22
1991	Draft-Line Corp. v. Hon Co.	781 F. Supp. 841	21
1987	Stubbe v. Rodriguez Estrada (In Re San Juan Hotel Corp.)	71 B.R. 413	21
1992	Kagan v. El San Juan Hotel Corp. (In Re El San Juan Hotel Corp.)	149 B.R. 263	19
2002	Gonzalez Garcia v. Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority	214 F. Supp. 2d 194	17
2002	Cruz Vargas v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.	218 F. Supp. 2d 109	17

Showing the 15 most-cited of 350 authored opinions in our data. “Cited” is inbound citations across the CourtListener corpus. Case links open the ruling’s full text (CourtListener) or its page here; read the methodology and verify against the primary source.

Questions & answers

Who appointed José Antonio Fusté?: President Ronald Reagan appointed José Antonio Fusté to the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico in 1985.
Was José Antonio Fusté appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: José Antonio Fusté was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was José Antonio Fusté's confirmation vote?: José Antonio Fusté was confirmed by voice vote on October 25, 1985. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was José Antonio Fusté on?: José Antonio Fusté was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.

Sources

Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

See something wrong? Report an error. Fixes are logged in the corrections log.

30 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).