Constitution of Puerto Rico in the context of "Puerto Rico Constitution Day"

The municipalities of Puerto Rico (Spanish: municipios de Puerto Rico) are second-level administrative divisions defined with geographic boundaries and governmental authority in the archipelago and island of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the U.S. Amounting to 78 incorporated towns and cities equivalent to U.S. counties, two of which are outside the main island, namely the smaller islands of Vieques and Culebra, the municipalities are governed by a popularly elected strong mayor and unicameral legislature. They are subdivided into 902 barrios, third-level divisions controlled by the municipal government. As a jurisdiction under U.S. sovereignty, Puerto Rico does not have first-level administrative units akin to states or provinces.

The municipalities of Puerto Rico operate under the Municipal Code of Puerto Rico (Law. No. 107 of 2020), which superseded the Autonomous Municipalities Act of Puerto Rico (Law No. 81 of 1991), as established by the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the governmental body responsible for their organization under Section 1, Article VI of the Constitution of Puerto Rico. Electorally, the municipalities are grouped into eight senatorial districts and forty representative districts, representing roughly equal populations in the Legislative Assembly.

The government of Puerto Rico encompasses the local administrative structure of the archipelago and island of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the U.S. organized under the Constitution of Puerto Rico since its establishment as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in 1952. The government is a republican democracy divided into three branches: the law-implementing executive, the law-making legislative, and the law-interpreting judicial. The Governor is the chief executive, the Legislative Assembly is the legislature, and the Supreme Court is the highest court of the territory, which is divided into 78 municipalities, each one headed by a strong mayor and a unicameral legislature. Like U.S. states and other U.S. territories, Puerto Rico is subject to the sovereign jurisdiction of the U.S. federal government.

With the American annexation of Puerto Rico during the Spanish–American War, the U.S. established a military government to administer the unincorporated territory from 1898 to 1900, when it was replaced by a civil insular government organized under the organic acts of the Foraker Act from 1900 to 1917 and the Jones–Shafroth Act from 1917 to 1952. The Constitution of Puerto Rico established the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and its government under the continued status of unincorporated territory in 1952. With the ratification of the constitution, the full authority and responsibility for the local administration of Puerto Rico was vested in the residents of Puerto Rico, resulting in complete self-governance within the archipelago and island.

The Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Asamblea Legislativa de Puerto Rico) is the territorial legislature of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, responsible for the legislative branch of the government of Puerto Rico. The Assembly is a bicameral legislature consisting of an upper house, the Senate (Spanish: Senado) normally composed of 27 senators, and the lower house, the House of Representatives (Spanish: Cámara de Representantes) normally consisting of 51 representatives. Eleven members of each house are elected at-large rather than from a specific legislative district with all members being elected for a four-year term without term limits.

The structure and responsibilities of the Legislative Assembly are defined in Article III of the Constitution of Puerto Rico which vests all legislative power in the Legislative Assembly. Every bill must be passed by both houses and signed by the Governor of Puerto Rico to become law. Each house has its unique powers. The constitution also states that each house shall be the unique judge on the legal capacity of its members. The constitution also grants parliamentary immunity to all elected members of the Legislative Assembly.

Elections in Puerto Rico are guaranteed by Article Six of the Constitution of Puerto Rico and the Electoral Code of Puerto Rico for the 21st Century Act. All processes are overseen and managed in whole by the Puerto Rico State Elections Commission; an autonomous agency of the executive branch of the government of Puerto Rico.

The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Tribunal Supremo de Puerto Rico) is the highest court of Puerto Rico, having judicial authority to interpret and decide questions of Puerto Rican law. The Court is analogous to one of the state supreme courts of the states of the United States and is the highest state court and the court of last resort in Puerto Rico. Article V of the Constitution of Puerto Rico vests the judicial power in the Supreme Court, which by nature forms the judicial branch of the government of Puerto Rico. The seat of the Supreme Court is the Supreme Court Building in San Juan Islet in the capital municipality of San Juan.

The executive branch of the government of Puerto Rico is responsible for executing the laws of Puerto Rico, as well as causing them to be executed. Article IV of the Constitution of Puerto Rico vests the executive power on the Governor—who by its nature forms the executive branch.

The Constitution also establishes that the Secretary of State should serve as acting governor when the Governor is unable to perform his duties. The Secretary of State, therefore, performs an equivalent role to that of a Lieutenant Governor in United States politics.

The Judiciary of Puerto Rico is the judicial branch of the Government of Puerto Rico, comprising all the courts of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Defined under the Constitution of Puerto Rico, it consists of one Supreme Court, one Court of Appeals, and the Court of First Instance, which is composed of 13 Superior Courts and 78 Municipal Courts, one for each municipality. Federally, the archipelago and island is under the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, which appeals cases to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

The Jones–Shafroth Act (Pub. L. 64–368, 39 Stat. 951, enacted March 2, 1917), officially called the Organic Act of Puerto Rico or the Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act of 1917, is an organic act of the 64th United States Congress that was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson on March 2, 1917. The Act expanded the civil administration of the insular government of Puerto Rico, which was established under the federal jurisdiction of the United States as the local governance of an unincorporated territory through the Foraker Act of 1900. It served as the primary organic law for the government of Puerto Rico and its relation with the United States until it was superseded by the Constitution of Puerto Rico in 1952 as per the Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act of 1950 and its Pub. L. 82–447 joint resolution.

Bearing the names of its sponsors, Representative William Atkinson Jones, (D-Virginia), chairman of the House Committee on Insular Affairs, and Senator John Shafroth, (D-Colorado), chairman of the Committee on Pacific Islands and Puerto Rico, the Jones–Shafroth Act, which operated as a de facto constitution, established a bill of rights based on the United States Bill of Rights and granted statutory birthright United States citizenship to anyone born in the archipelago and island on or after April 11, 1899.

The Senate of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Senado de Puerto Rico) is the upper house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The Senate, together with the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico, control the legislative branch of the government of Puerto Rico.

The structure and responsibilities of the Senate are defined in Article III of the Constitution of Puerto Rico which vests all legislative power in the Legislative Assembly. Every bill must be passed by both the Senate and the House and then signed by the Governor of Puerto Rico in order to become law.