SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico’s Court of Appeals dismissed on Wednesday a lawsuit filed by the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPI) against Gov. Jenniffer González Colón after she barred the outlet’s journalists from attending press conferences at La Fortaleza because they did not have a press credential issued by the Puerto Rico Department of State. The ruling by a panel made up of Judges Grace Grana Martínez, Eric R. Ronda Del Toro and Glorianne M. Lotti Rodríguez reversed an earlier decision by the San Juan Superior Court, which found that requiring such identification is unconstitutional. CPI Executive Director Carla Minet said the organization will immediately seek relief from the Puerto Rico Supreme Court.
“The state cannot decide who may do the work of journalism and ask questions at La Fortaleza. That is an affront to press freedom here and in any country in the world. The appellate panel, made up of three judges appointed by the party in power, got this wrong, and we will not stand idly by. As absurd as it may seem that the González administration, instead of addressing the country’s priorities, is using public resources to keep our journalists from asking questions, this attempt to silence us must be confronted. We will go to the Puerto Rico Supreme Court, where we hope this error will be urgently corrected and press freedom protected. That is what our justice system requires,” she said.
After CPI filed the lawsuit in December, Judge Iris L. Cancio González of the San Juan Superior Court ruled in late February that requiring journalists to present the Department of State credential in order to attend press conferences at the Executive Mansion violates press freedom. A few weeks ago, the Puerto Rico Supreme Court denied a petition the governor filed in late March seeking an urgent ruling on the case.
The appellate panel held that “press certification does not constitute an unconstitutional restriction on the exercise of freedom of the press,” and argued that “a litigant cannot constitutionally challenge an administrative procedure it never attempted to use, nor claim that it imposed a burden when it did not submit to it.”
Grana Martínez, who presides over the panel, was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 2012 by former Gov. Luis Fortuño Burset of the New Progressive Party (PNP). Judge Ronda Del Toro was appointed in 2020 by former Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced, also of the PNP, while Judge Lotti Rodríguez was appointed in 2025 by current Gov. González Colón, who is also a defendant in the case. The panel concluded that “because there is an administrative body designated to issue certifications to journalists, the state’s requirement that reporters present such accreditation is reasonable and neutral.”
However, in proceedings before the San Juan Superior Court, both the Asociación de Periodistas de Puerto Rico and the Overseas Press Club argued that requiring the credential hinders journalists’ work.
According to the appellate ruling, the San Juan Superior Court erred by failing to hold a hearing at which CPI and the government could present their arguments. Yet the appellate panel did not order such a hearing before issuing its own ruling, CPI noted.
