José Trías Monge

José Trías Monge (May 5, 1920 – June 24, 2003) was a lawyer and judge in Puerto Rico. He served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico from 1974 to 1985.[1]

Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, he was appointed Chief Justice in 1974, without any prior court service, by Gov. Rafael Hernández Colón, who, as President of the Senate of Puerto Rico between 1969 and 1972, had espoused that Chief Justices should be selected from among current Associate Justices.

In 1940, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Puerto Rico and, in 1943, obtained a master of Arts degree from Harvard University. The following year, he graduated with a law degree, also from Harvard Law School. In 1947 he completed doctoral studies in law at Yale Law School. From 1947 to 1949, he was a professor at the University of Puerto Rico.

Prior to his service as Chief Justice, Trías Monge was one of the top delegates to Puerto Rico's Constitutional Assembly between 1951 and 1952. Along with Muñoz Marín and Dr. Antonio Fernós Isern, he is considered one of the chief architects of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico's Constitution. He then served as deputy Attorney General of Puerto Rico under Gov. Luis Muñoz Marín from 1949 to 1953 and as Secretary of Justice from 1953 to 1957.[2]

As Chief Justice, he chaired the 1980 Constitutional Board for Electoral Reapportionment. He held the office of Chief Justice until his retirement on October 20, 1985. Trias Monge is the author of several books on the judicial history and political status of Puerto Rico, in both Spanish and English. Several years prior to his death, despite his own contribution to the drafting and approval of the 1952 Commonwealth Constitution, he began writing and speaking publicly that Puerto Rico remained a territory or colony of the United States. He died June 24, 2003 in Boston, Massachusetts at age 83.[3]