Clemente Ruiz Nazario

Clemente Ruiz Nazario, born in San Germán, Puerto Rico, on November 23, 1896, was the first Puerto Rican appointed as District Judge to the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.

Ruiz Nazario served in the United States Army Reserve and then went to University of Puerto Rico where he received his teacher certificate and law degree. He was appointed by President Harry S. Truman, in 1952. Setting a precedent, the appointment of Ruiz Nazario to the federal district court in Puerto Rico marked the beginning of an uninterrupted practice of appointing Puerto Rican men and women to that Court. Nominated as the next-to-last fixed-term judge in the District of Puerto Rico, he was joined by a second judge as Puerto Rico's federal caseload increased, Judge Hiram Rafael Cancio who, after Ruiz Nazario's resignation in December 1966, was appointed as Puerto Rico's first Article III lifetime federal judge. He died on December 25, 1969.