José A. Cabranes

Education

• The University of Cambridge, M.LiTT (International Law) (1967)
• Yale University, J.D. (1965)
• Columbia University, AB (1961)

Career

• Judge of the Federal Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (1994-present)
• Connecticut District Court Judge (1979-1994)
• Legal Adviser and Director of the Office of Government Relations at Yale University (1975-79)
• Official Special Advisor to the Governor of Puerto Rico and Administrator, Puerto Rico office in Washington (1973-1975)
• Professor at Rutgers Law School (1971-73)

Publications

Books

• KATE STITH & JOSÉ A. CABRANES, FEAR OF JUDGING: SENTENCING GUIDELINES IN THE FEDERAL COURTS (Univ. Chi. Press 1998)
• JOSÉ A. CABRANES, CITIZENSHIP, AND THE AMERICAN EMPIRE: NOTES ON THE LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CITIZENSHIP OF PUERTO RICANS (Yale Univ. Press 1979), also printed in 127 U. PA. L. REV. 391 (1978)

International Law and Law of U.S. Foreign Relations

• José A. Cabranes, The Foreign Policy of Our Government’s “Least Dangerous Branch,” 41 YALE J. INT’L L. 469 (2016)
• José A. Cabranes, Withholding Judgment: Why U.S. Courts Shouldn’t Make Foreign Policy, FOREIGN AFFS., Sept.–Oct. 2015, at 125
• José A. Cabranes, Our Imperial Criminal Procedure: Problems in the Extraterritorial Application of U.S. Constitutional Law, 118 YALE L.J. 1660 (2009)
• José A. Cabranes, Customary International Law: What It Is and What It Is Not, 22 DUKE J. COMPAR. & INT’L L. 143 (2011)
• José A. Cabranes, International Law by Consent of the Governed, 42 VAL. UNIV. L. REV. 119 (2007)
• José A. Cabranes, Reflections on the Belgrade Meeting (1977–78) of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, 4 YALE STUD.IN WORLD PUB. ORD. 274 (1978)
• José A. Cabranes, International Law and Control of the Drug Traffic, 7 INT’L LAW. 761 (1973)
• José A. Cabranes, The Protection of Human Rights by the Organization of American States, 62 AM. J. INT’L L. 889 (1968)
• José A. Cabranes, Human Rights and Non-Intervention in the Inter-American System, 65 MICH. L. REV. 1147 (1967)
• José A. Cabranes, Limitations of Liability in International Air Law: The Warsaw and Rome Conventions Reconsidered, 15 INT’L COMPAR. L.Q. 660 (1966)

Legal and Judicial History

• José A. Cabranes, On the Mythology of “The Mother Court,” 88 CONN. BAR J. 226 (2015)
• Marin K. Levy, Kate Stith, & José A. Cabranes, The Costs of Judging Judges by the Numbers, 28 YALE L. & POL’Y REV. 313 (2010)
• José A. Cabranes, Remarks of Judge José A. Cabranes, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, at the Annual Presentation Ceremonies of the Henry L. Stimson Medals (June 3, 2008)
• José A. Cabranes, Arbitration, and U.S. Courts: Balancing Their Strengths, N.Y. STATE BAR J., March/April 1998, at 22
• José A. Cabranes, Notes on the History of the Federal Court of Connecticut, 57 CONN. BAR. J. 351 (1983)
• José A. Cabranes, The Need for Continued Federal Protection of Individual Rights, 15 CONN. L. REV. 31 (1982)

University Governance, Curricula, and Related Issues

• Notable & Quotable: Judge Cabranes on Title IX, WALL ST. J., June 9, 2022 (printing Vengalattore v. Cornell Univ., 36 F.4th 87, 114–15 (2d Cir. 2022) (Cabranes, J., concurring))
• José A. Cabranes, Higher Education’s Enemy Within, WALL ST. J., Nov. 9, 2019, at A13
• José A. Cabranes, For Freedom of Expression, for Due Process, and for Yale: The Emerging Threat to Academic Freedom at a Great University, 35 YALE L. & POL’Y REV. 345 (2017)
• José A. Cabranes, For Free Speech, for Due Process and for Yale, YALE DAILY NEWS (Jan. 17, 2017), https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2017/01/17/for-free-speech-for-due-process-and-for-yale/ 
• José A. Cabranes, The New ‘Surveillance University,’ WASH. POST, Jan. 11, 2017
• JOSÉ A. CABRANES & KATE STITH, CAMPUS SPEECH IN CRISIS: WHAT THE YALE EXPERIENCE CAN TEACH AMERICA(2016)
• José A. Cabranes, No to the Siren Song Aimed at Columbia College, COLUM. DAILY SPECTATOR, Mar. 7, 2012, at 6
• José A. Cabranes, Myth, and Reality of University Trusteeship in the Post-Enron Era, 76 FORDHAM L. REV. 955 (2007)
• José A. Cabranes, Our Common Ground, WALL ST. J., June 9, 1995, at A10
• José A. Cabranes, American Higher Education and the Law: Some Reflections on NACUA’s Silver Anniversary, 12 J. COLL. & UNIV. L. 261 (1985)
• José A. Cabranes, Who Champions the Institution? The President Speaks for the University, in HIGHER EDUCATION AND GOVERNMENT: AN UNEASY ALLIANCE 101 (W. Todd Furniss & David P. Gardner, eds. 1979)
• José A. Cabranes, Segregation Based on Language, in THE CONTINUING CHALLENGE: THE PAST AND THE FUTURE OF BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION 37 (1975)

Sentencing

• José A. Cabranes, Sentencing Guidelines: Where We Are and How We Got Here, 44 ST. LOUIS U. L.J. 385 (2000)
• José A. Cabranes, The U.S. Sentencing Guidelines: Where Do We Go from Here?, 44 ST. LOUIS U. L.J. 271 (2000), reprinted in 12 FED. SENT’G REP. 208 (2000)
• Kate Stith & José A. Cabranes, To Fear Judging No More: Recommendations for the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, 11 FED. SENT’G REP. 187 (1999)
• José A. Cabranes, Reforming the Federal Sentencing Guidelines: Appellate Review of Discretionary Sentencing Decisions, 1 HARV. LATINO L. REV. 177 (1994), also printed in 5 REV. ACAD. P.R. DE JUR. Y LEG. (1998)
• Kate Stith & José A. Cabranes, Judging Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, 91 NW. U. L. REV. 1247 (1997)
• José A. Cabranes and Leonard Orland, Lessons from the Federal Courts Study Committee, 5 FED. SENT’G REP. 203 (1993)
• José A. Cabranes, A Failed Utopian Experiment, NAT’L L.J., July 27, 1992, at 2
• José A. Cabranes, Sentencing Guidelines: A Dismal Failure, N.Y. L.J., Feb. 11, 1992, at 2

Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans

• José A. Cabranes, Bring the Drug Industry Back to Puerto Rico, WALL ST. J., May 21, 2020, at A15
• José A. Cabranes & Félix López, The Puerto Ricans are Coming, WASH. POST., Sept. 28, 2017, at A21
• José A. Cabranes, Let Puerto Rico Declare Bankruptcy, WASH. POST, July 21, 2015, at A19
• José A. Cabranes, History of the District Court of Puerto Rico, FED. LAW., Jan. 2005, at 16
• José A. Cabranes, Judging in Puerto Rico and Elsewhere, FED. LAW., June 2002, at 40
• José A. Cabranes, Some Common Ground, in FOREIGN IN A DOMESTIC SENSE: PUERTO RICO, AMERICAN EXPANSION, AND THE CONSTITUTION (Christina Duffy Burnett & Burke Marshall eds., 2001)
• José A. Cabranes, Puerto Rico: Colonialism as Constitutional Doctrine, 100 HARV. L. REV. 450 (1986) (reviewing JUAN R. TORRUELLA, THE SUPREME COURT, AND PUERTO RICO: THE DOCTRINE OF SEPARATE AND UNEQUAL(1985))
• José A. Cabranes, Puerto Rico and the Constitution, in APPLICABILITY OF THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AND FEDERAL LAWS TO THE COMMONWEALTH OF PUERTO RICO (W. Publ’g Co. 1986), also printed in PROCEEDINGS OF THE JUDICIAL CONFERENCE OF THE FIRST CIRCUIT, 110 F.R.D. 449, 475 (1985)
• José A. Cabranes, Puerto Rico: Out of the Colonial Closet, in FOREIGN POLICY ON LATIN AMERICA 1970–1980, at 138 (Charles William Maynes et al. eds., Westview Press & the Carnegie Endowment for Int’l Peace 1983), originally published in FOREIGN POL’Y, Winter 1978–79, at 66
• José A. Cabranes, El proceso de descolonización, EL NUEVO DÍA DOMINGO, May 6, 1979, at 4
• José A. Cabranes, Puerto Rico: Fuera de la Órbita Colonial, EL NUEVO DÍA, Dec. 17–20, 1978 (fourarticle series)
• José A. Cabranes, Annexation of the Marianas, a ‘Dismal Story,’ N.Y. TIMES, Apr. 17, 1976, at 16
• José A. Cabranes, New Colony in the Pacific, NEW REPUBLIC, Dec. 13, 1975, reprinted in 122 CONG. REC. 1124 (Jan. 27, 1976) (introductory remarks by Senator Harry F. Byrd, Jr.)
• José A. Cabranes, Adm’r, Off. Of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in Washington, D.C., Self-Determination for Puerto Rico, Address before a forum sponsored by the Institute of Latin American Studies of the University of Texas and by the University of Texas Law School (Dec. 4, 1974), in JOSÉ A.CABRANES, SELF-DETERMINATION FOR PUERTO RICO (1975)
• José A. Cabranes, A Puerto Rican Perspective, in MINORITY OPPORTUNITIES IN LAW FOR BLACKS, PUERTO RICANS &CHICANOS 9 (Christine Philpot Clark ed., 1974), also printed in 25 J. LEGAL EDUC. 447 (1972–1973); 37 REVISTA DEL COLEGIO DE ABOGADOS DE PUERTO RICO 727 (1976)
• José A. Cabranes, The Evolution of the “American Empire,” 67 AM. J. INT’L L. 1 (1973), reprinted in 119 CONG. REC. 12,156 (daily ed. April 12, 1973) (introductory remarks of Senator Mike Mansfield)
• José A. Cabranes, Self-Determination: What Puerto Rico Wants, CIVIL LIBERTIES, Oct. 1972, reprinted in 118 CONG. REC. 37278 (Oct. 18, 1972) (introductory remarks by Senator Thomas Eagleton)
• José A. Cabranes, The Status of Puerto Rico, 16 INT’L & COMPAR. L.Q. 531 (1967)

Book Reviews

• José A. Cabranes, Book Review: To Preserve the Big Ditch, N.Y. TIMES, July 29, 1984 (§ 7), at 26 (reviewing WILLIAM J. JORDEN, PANAMA ODYSSEY (1984))
• José A. Cabranes, Book Review, 64 AM. J. INT’L L. 467 (1970) (reviewing S.A. BAYITCH & JOSÉ LUIS SIQUEIROS, CONFLICT OF LAWS: MEXICO AND THE UNITED STATES. A BILATERAL STUDY (1968))
• José A. Cabranes, Book Review, 16 INT’L & COMPAR. L.Q. 563 (1967) (reviewing INTER-AM. INST. OF INT’L LEGAL STUD., INTER-AMERICAN SYSTEM: IT’S DEVELOPMENT AND STRENGTHENING (1966))
• José A. Cabranes, Book Review, 16 INT’L & COMPAR. L.Q. 258 (1967) (reviewing NORRIS HUNDLEY, JR., DIVIDING THE WATERS: A CENTURY OF CONTROVERSY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO (1966))

Memorials

• José A. Cabranes, On Judge Juan Torruella, 130 YALE L.J.F. 310 (2020)
• José A. Cabranes, In Memoriam: Michael E. Levine, 11 N.Y.U. J.L. & LIBERTY 3 (2017)
• José A. Cabranes, Remembering W. Bernard Richland, 48 N.Y. L. SCH. L. REV. 401 (2004)
• José A. Cabranes, Merton C. Bernstein: Exemplar of Public Service, 71 WASH. UNIV. L.Q. 991 (1993)
• José A. Cabranes, Ernest Gruening, WASH. POST, July 17, 1974, at A21