Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has appointed a New York judge with experience overseeing bankruptcy and financial crime cases to preside over the bankruptcy of Puerto Rico, USA Today reported on Friday. Roberts named U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain of the Southern District of New York to lead a case involving prodigious complexity and scope, not to mention profound implications for millions of American citizens, creditors and pensioners. The appointment of Swain to oversee Puerto Rico's debt-cutting case may alleviate concerns among some legal observers that the case could fall into the hands of a federal judge without bankruptcy expertise. Justice Roberts was required by law to appoint a district court judge, not a bankruptcy judge as is typical in municipal cases. Swain was a bankruptcy judge in the Eastern District of New York from 1996 through 2000 until then-President Bill Clinton appointed her to her current role in the district court. She has played a key role in revising federal bankruptcy procedures, which will be critical to Puerto Rico's case, having earned a reputation for thoroughness and fair treatment in her past cases. "Judge Swain is an excellent choice," said Melissa Jacoby, a University of North Carolina law professor who has studied municipal bankruptcy and the Puerto Rico case, and a former ABI Resident Scholar. "She is a judge and person of unimpeachable integrity. Stakeholders of all kinds should be confident that the process will be fair."
