Page:FOMBPR v. CPI.pdf/6

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Cite as: 598 U. S. ____ (2023)
3

Opinion of the Court

Section 2126(a), entitled “Jurisdiction,” states that “any action against the Oversight Board, and any action otherwise arising out of” PROMESA, “shall be brought” in the Federal District Court sitting in Puerto Rico.[1] And Section 2126(c) anticipates that those actions may lead to orders “granting declaratory or injunctive relief against the Oversight Board”; under the provision, such orders cannot take effect until the litigation is over.

On the flipside, PROMESA sets certain limits on litigation targeting the Board. Section 2125 forecloses monetary liability against the Board, its members, and its employees for “actions taken to carry out” the statute. And Section 2126(e) provides that no district court will have jurisdiction over challenges to the Board’s “certification determinations”—mainly, decisions approving Puerto Rico’s fiscal plans and budgets. See §§2141(e), 2142(e) (describing those determinations).

The suit before us demands that the Board release various documents relating to its work. Respondent Centro de Periodismo Investigativo, Inc. (CPI) is a nonprofit media organization that has published many reports on Puerto Rico’s fiscal crisis and the debt-restructuring process. In 2016, CPI asked the Board to turn over a broad array of materials, including communications between the Board’s members and Puerto Rican and U. S. officials. When the request went unanswered, CPI sued the Board in the Federal District Court in Puerto Rico. CPI cited a provision of the Puerto Rican Constitution interpreted to guarantee a right of access to public records. And it requested an injunction ordering the records’ release.

The Board moved to dismiss the suit on the ground that,


  1. The section contains two exceptions not relevant here—one for applications to enforce subpoenas, the other for certain actions related to Title III cases. See 48 U. S. C. §§2124(f)(2), 2166(a)(2).