Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/18-1334_8m58.pdf
Page Number: 44

Cite as:  590 U. S. ____ (2020) 

7 

SOTOMAYOR, J., concurring in judgment 

549, 48 U. S. C. §2101 et seq., in the midst of Puerto Rico’s 
dramatic reversal of fortune, with the aim of mitigating the
island’s  “severe  economic  decline,”  see  48  U. S. C. 
§2194(m)(1).  To that end, the statute establishes a Finan-
cial  Oversight  and  Management  Board  to  oversee  the  is-
land’s finances and restructure its debts.  See ante, at 3–4; 
Issacharoff, 94 Ind. L. J., at 30–31. 

The  Board’s  decisions  have  affected  the  island’s  entire 
population,  particularly  many  of  its  most  vulnerable  citi-
zens.  The Board has ordered pensions to be reduced by as
much  as  8.5  percent,  a  measure  that  threatens  the  sole 
source of income for thousands of Puerto Rico’s poor and el-
derly.  Walsh  &  Russell,  $129  Billion  Puerto  Rico  Bank-
ruptcy Plan Could Be Model for States, N. Y. Times, Sept.
29, 2019.  Other proposed cuts take aim at already depleted 
healthcare and educational services.  It is under the yoke of 
such  austerity  measures  that  the  island’s  3.2  million  citi-
zens now chafe. 

PROMESA does not provide for the appointment of Board 
members according to the straightforward methods set out
in the Appointments Clause.  U. S. Const., Art. II, §2, cl. 2 
(requiring  principal  “Officers  of  the  United  States”  to  be 
nominated  by  the  President,  with  Senate  advice  and  con-
sent).  Instead, the statute prescribes a labyrinthine proce-
dure by which the Speaker of the House, majority leader of 
the  Senate,  minority  leader  of  the  House,  and  minority 
leader of the Senate each submit to the President separate 
lists with any number of candidates; and the President, in
turn,  selects  individuals  from  each  of  those  lists,  plus  an 
individual in his sole discretion.  See §101(e), 130 Stat. 554– 
555.2  With  only one exception, then, the President is not 

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2 Specifically, PROMESA provides that “[t]he Board shall be comprised
of  one  Category  A  member,  one  Category  B  member,  two  Category  C
members,  one  Category  D  member,  one  Category  E  member,  and  one
Category F member.”  §101(e)(1)(B), 130 Stat. 554.  The Speaker of the
House submits “separate, non-overlapping list[s]” for the Category A and