Puerto Rico board gets more time to be confirmed by Senate

Puerto Rico's federally appointed oversight board will have two more months to have its authority endorsed by the Senate, an appellate court said Monday.

The case was prompted by a challenge to the board's legitimacy brought by Aurelius Capital Management and Assured Guaranty Corp.

On Feb. 15, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston denied the bid by Aurelius Capital to dismiss Puerto Rico's bankruptcy cases involving bondholders and other creditors, but did agree that oversight board members were not constitutionally appointed. The court allowed 90 days for the White House and Senate to constitutionally validate the board or reconstitute it.

In its ruling on Monday, the court denied the oversight board's request to stay the case indefinitely while it petitions the Supreme Court to review the decision, instead extending the stay until July 15. The appeals court noted that the board filed its Supreme Court petition "apparently with no sense of any urgency."

The White House said April 30 that it will nominate the current seven members of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico to fill out the remainder of the three-year terms to which they were initially appointed in 2016. No Senate action has been scheduled until the nominations are officially made.