Rafael Martínez Torres is a Puerto Rican

Puerto Rican people

A Puerto Rican is a person who was born in Puerto Rico.Puerto Ricans born and raised in the continental United States are also sometimes referred to as Puerto Ricans, although they were not born in Puerto Rico...

 jurist

Jurist

A jurist or jurisconsult is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law. The term is widely used in American English, but in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries it has only historical and specialist usage...

. Since 2009 he has served as an Associate Justice

Associate Justice

Associate Justice or Associate Judge is the title for a member of a judicial panel who is not the Chief Justice in some jurisdictions. The title "Associate Justice" is used for members of the United States Supreme Court and some state supreme courts, and for some other courts in Commonwealth...

 of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico

Supreme Court of Puerto Rico

The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico is the highest court of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, having judicial authority within Puerto Rico to interpret and decide questions of Commonwealth law. As the highest body of the judicial branch of the Puerto Rican government, it is analogous to one of the...

.

Early life and education

Martínez was born in Humacao, Puerto Rico

Humacao, Puerto Rico

Humacao is a city in Puerto Rico located in the eastern coast of the island, north of Yabucoa; south of Naguabo; east of Las Piedras; and west of Vieques Passage. Humacao is spread over 10 wards and Humacao Pueblo...

. He received a bachelor's degree in Political Science

Political science

Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...

 from the University of Puerto Rico

University of Puerto Rico

The University of Puerto Rico is the state university system of Puerto Rico. The system consists of 11 campuses and has approximately 64,511 students and 5,300 faculty members...

, Río Piedras Campus. Afterwards, he received a Juris Doctor

Juris Doctor

Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...

 degree from the University of Puerto Rico School of Law, where he served as Editor of the Law Review. Martínez was also research assistant of José Julián Álvarez, a prominent Constitutional Law

Constitutional law

Constitutional law is the body of law which defines the relationship of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary....

 professor. He was a member of the Nu Sigma Beta

Nu Sigma Beta

Nu Sigma Beta Fraternity is a non-profit Puerto Rican fraternity. It was established in 1937 at the University of Puerto Rico by several young students from diverse backgrounds....

 Fraternity.

Judicial career

After working in private practice and in the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico

House of Representatives of Puerto Rico

The House of Representatives of Puerto Rico is the lower house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the territorial legislature of Puerto Rico...

, Martínez was appointed to the Puerto Rico Court of Appeals by Governor Pedro Rosselló

Pedro Rosselló

Pedro Juan Rosselló González, M.D., , is a Puerto Rican physician and politician who served as the sixth Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico from 1993 to 2001...

. After spending 14 years in that Court, Governor Luis Fortuño

Luis Fortuño

Luis Guillermo Fortuño Burset is the governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a territory of the United States of America. Fortuño is also the president of the New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico , a member of the Republican National Committee, and will be president of the Council of State...

 elevated him to Associate Justice of the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy left by Justice Baltasar Corrada del Río

Baltasar Corrada del Río

Baltasar Corrada del Río is a former politician from Puerto Rico. He held various high political offices in the island, including President of the Puerto Rico Civil Rights Commission, Resident Commissioner , Mayor of the capital city of San Juan , Puerto Rico's 15th Secretary of State and...

. That seat had been vacant for over three years.

He was sworn in on March 10, 2009. The Constitution of Puerto Rico

Constitution of Puerto Rico

The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is the controlling government document of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is composed of nine articles detailing the structure of the government as well as the function of several of its institutions. The document also contains an extensive...

 mandates that Supreme Court Justices must retire when they reach the age of seventy. Therefore, Justice Martínez term will expire in 2029.