Full opinion text
OPINION AND ORDER FUSTE, District Judge. I. Introduction This is an action for a declaratory judgment, injunctive relief, and damages, in which Plaintiffs seek redress for the purported violation by Defendants of their constitutional rights to freedom of speech and association, to the equal protection of the laws, and to due process of law, as guaranteed by the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. U.S. Const, amends. I, V, XIV. The complaint is brought under the provisions of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1988 & Supp. I 2000). Jurisdiction is invoked under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1343 (1993). Plaintiffs challenge the constitutionality of the Independent Citizens’ Commission to Evaluate Government Transactions, popularly known as the Blue Ribbon Commission, created by Defendant Governor Sila M. Calderón, of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, through Executive Order No. 2001-06. Prior to the November 2000 general election, Sila M. Calderón, as gubernatorial candidate for the Popular Democratic Party, publicly accused the administration of the New Progressive Party in power from 1992 to 2000 with wide-ranging public corruption. The Popular Democratic Party supports maintenance of the current political status of Puerto Rico in relation to the United States. See 48 U.S.C. §§ 731-914 (1982 & Supp. I 2001). The New Progressive Party advocates for Puerto Rico to become a state. As part of the political platform of the Popular Democratic Party, then-candidate Calderon promised to create a Blue Ribbon Commission to investigate corruption committed by public officials under the New Progressive Party administration. Plaintiffs Jorge E. Aponte and Daniel Pagán were high-ranking officials in the targeted New Progressive Party administration. Plaintiff Aponte, a certified public accountant (“CPA”), was the Director of the Office of Management and Budget of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico during the years 1993 to 2000. Plaintiff Pagán, an engineer, was the outgoing Secretary of the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (known by its Spanish acronym, “DRNA”). Both officials responded directly to the New Progressive Party Governor, Dr. Pedro Ros-selló, and they held their public positions until December 31, 2000. Defendants are Governor Sila M. Cal-derón and the members of the Blue Ribbon Commission. The members of the Blue Ribbon Commission all sympathize with the present Popular Democratic Party administration and its quest to investigate the preceding administration. At the November 6-8, 2001 hearing held before this court, none admitted their specific political party affiliation, and all appear to be supporters of political ideologies other than that of the New Progressive Party or so-called independent voters. II. The Creation of the Blue Ribbon Commission The moving force behind the formation of the Blue Ribbon Commission is Governor Sila M. Calderon’s political promise to investigate public corruption by officers of the outgoing New Progressive Party administration. Prior to the promulgation of Executive Order 2001-06, Defendant Cal-derón requested the persons she had selected to be members of the Commission to conduct research regarding the constitutionality of the body she intended to create. With the exception of one Defendant, who is a CPA, all of the past and current members of the Commission hold law degrees. Three Defendants are former judges. The Commissioners performed extensive research on the constitutionality of the Commission and its precise purposes prior to Defendant Calderon’s declaration of Executive Order 2001-06. The enabling executive order cites unprecedented corruption in public management, which, according to its terms, requires total eradication to reestablish the trust of the citizens of Puerto Rico in government institutions. The executive order seeks the cooperation of all public employees and the entire citizenry in the fight against public corruption and conceives the independent commission composed of private citizens to be representative of society. The commission is given power to: FIRST: ... evaluate] significant government transactions, both of the past and present administrations, which in the judgment of the Commission itself, warrant evaluation. SECOND: ... (a) evaluate significant government transactions conducted by agencies of the Executive Branch of the government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, both during the past and present administrations, which in the judgment of the Commission itself warrant evaluation.... Those transactions shall be considered significant which, in the Commission’s judgment, whether because of the amount involved therein or because of other characteristics, have the potential of substantially impacting on areas such as the government structure, the public treasury, the country’s economy and infrastructure, or the citizenry’s trust in government institutions. (b) ... request from any natural or artificial person, whether or not a public functionary or employee, every sort of information regarding any government transaction which is under evaluation by the Commission, when in the judgment of the Commission itself, that information is pertinent to the evaluation process. (c) ... require the assistance of functionaries belonging to the Executive Branch in order to obtain, through the mechanisms provided by law, the appearance of any person or the delivery of any document or object, whensoever this shall be necessary and warranted. THIRD: ... issue to the Governor such reports as the Commission itself deems appropriate, with the partial or final results of the evaluations which the Commission has carried out or is carrying out. Said reports shall include such findings as have resulted from those evaluations, and may also include recommendations, both short- and long-term, that such actions as the Commission deems advisable be taken, including, but not limited to, recommendations that new statutory or regulatory rules be adopted to govern such transactions or that existing ones be modified, or that administrative, civil or criminal procedure be undertaken against certain persons. Such reports shall be disclosed solely by the Governor, except when in her judgment this may interfere with the successful carrying out of such actions as may be necessary in light of the contents of the report in particular. FOURTH: The Governor’s Office shall provide the Commission with an office where it may perform its functions. The Commission’s administrative operations shall be carried out through the Department of State. The Department of State, the Department of Justice, and the other government agencies under the authority of the Governor’s Office, are authorized and ordered to provide the Commission with such support as is necessary to enable the Commission to successfully carry out its mission, including, but not limited to, technical support, support, of personnel equipment [sic], and the hiring by the agency of such additional staff as the Commission may need. Requests for support from the Commission shall be channeled through the Chief of Staff. SIXTH: ... make its decisions by a majority of the total number of its members.... The work of the Commission shall be carried out in strict confidentiality. The information to which the members of the Commission have access as a result of their functions on the Commission shall be deemed strictly privileged, and may not be revealed for use by any of them for any purpose other than the work of the Commission. Subject to the provisions of this Executive Order, the Commission may adopt such other rules as it deems appropriate to govern its own internal functioning. SEVENTH: The chairperson of the Commission shall organize and direct the work of the Commission, and shall be its only spokesperson. He or she may carry out any other activity which is entrusted to him or her by the Governor or by the Committee [sic] which is necessary to better fulfill this Executive Order. Docket Document No. 7, Exh. 1 (emphasis added). The Commission is composed of five members appointed by the Governor. David Npriega-Rodriguez, an attorney-at-law, former legislator, and advocate for the Puerto Rico independence movement, acts as chairperson. Ileana Colón-Cario, a CPA, an attorney-at-law, and former Comptroller of Puerto Rico, along with Carmen Rita Vélez-Borrás, an attorney, former Secretary of Justice for the Commonwealth, and former Superior Court Judge, are members of the Commission. Both claim to be politically independent. Ms. Colon-Carlo, however, was appointed Comptroller by Governor Rafael Hernán-dez Colón and actively participated in Governor Calderon’s campaign. CPA Pedro Galarza, a former president of the Puerto Rico Telephone Company under a previous Popular Democratic Party administration, was a member who recently resigned from the Commission for personal reasons. His position has not been filled. Attorney Pedro López-Oliver, a retired Superior Court Judge, formed part of the Commission until late June 2001. He resigned from the Commission, and has been substituted by former Superior Court Judge Angel Her-mida, who also claims to be an independent voter. The members of the Commission serve at the pleasure of the Governor and can be removed by Defendant Calder-ón at any time. The Commissioners receive compensation for their efforts through professional services contracts with the Governor’s Office. The Commission is empowered to act sua sponte, but nothing in Executive Order No.2001-06 impedes the Commission from acting on a referral basis, whether from private or public sources. Upon the Commission’s decision to investigate a particular governmental transaction, its members proceed by private, confidential, and strictly privileged hearings to ascertain the facts pertaining to alleged violations of governmental policy, irrespective of whether the consequences for the persons under investigation are civil or criminal in nature. To carry out this function, the Commission has the power to make appropriate rules and regulations, to employ attorneys, investigators, and other staff members, to compel the attendance of witnesses with the assistance of the agencies of the executive branch of government, to examine them under oath, and to require the production of books, records, and other evidence. See Docket Document No. 7, Exh. 1. Since the entire machinery of the executive branch is at its disposal, the Commission can technically enforce its orders seeking attendance of witnesses or production of books, records, and other evidence by petition to the state courts for contempt proceedings. Id. Although the Commission has the power to request the aid of other executive branch agencies to compel the testimony of a particular witness or the disclosure of documentary evidence, the Commission claims that it has never done so because the Commissioners decided informally that they would not avail themselves of this power bestowed upon them. We note that the internal determination by the Commissioners that they would not compel a witness to testify through service of a subpoena had not been previously divulged to the public, and we have seen no contemporaneous amendment to the executive order or to any of the Commission’s regulations to that effect. On paper, the scope of the Commission’s investigative authority is not explicitly limited by the enabling executive order to violations of criminal laws. However, the Commission’s involvement in probing criminal violations is patently clear from the executive order and is reinforced by the availability through that order of the executive branch’s investigatory resources, including the Department of Justice of Puer-to Rico, to assist the Commission in its activities. Since its creation, the Commission has rendered reports in three distinct transactions, two of which are the object of this suit. The transactions are, first, the lease and purchase of a building located at Bar-bosa Avenue 306 and an adjacent parking lot on Italia Street, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico. The second pertains to the relationship between the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources and the Solid Waste Authority and a corporate entity known as the Puerto Rico Infrastructure Management Group, Inc. (“PRIME”). In both cases, the Commission has submitted reports to the Governor. The findings have been private in nature, following the tenor of Executive Order No.2001-06. However, the reports have been the object of news conferences presided over by Governor Calderón and some members of the Blue Ribbon Commission, and copies of the reports have been made available to the press for publication. In both instances at issue here, these press conferences and the publicized reports find that there is probable cause to believe that violations of Puer-to Rico criminal law have occurred. The findings of the Commission in these two cases are a matter of public record, not because the enabling executive order provides such a mechanism, but because the findings of the Commission have been made available to the general public in the manner outlined above. The Commission and the Governor have also reported the findings to the Puerto Rico Department of Justice and have referred the matters to them for further proceedings. In certain instances, the Commission obtained information relating to criminal activity and immediately forwarded such evidence to the Governor. The Governor then referred the information to the Department of Justice for further action, even before the issuance of the Commission’s report to the Governor and the publication of such report through press conferences. The Blue Ribbon Commission approved a set of operational by-laws during its regular meetings held on February 20 and March 13, 2001. During the hearing held by this court on November 6-8, 2001, we heard testimony that a second set of bylaws that had been deemed strictly confidential had also been approved on February 27 and March 27, 2001. Surprisingly, these regulations have not been considered for official publication in accordance with Puerto Rico’s Uniform Administrative Procedure Act. See 3 L.P.R.A. § § 2101-2201 (1992 & Supp. I 1998). These norms for investigation and preparation of reports cover topics such as the solicitation of assistance from the executive branch to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents, the issuance of summonses, directives as to the course of action to take when an attending witness refuses to testify or produce documents, the manner in which interviews are to be conducted and sworn statements are to be taken, the procedure for interviewing witnesses suspected of having committed violations of criminal laws, and norms of confidentiality. The salient aspects of this confidential set of rules are quite revealing. Witnesses are forbidden from taking notes, and they cannot record their testimony. The Commission is directed not to provide copies of the statements made by witnesses upon their request. The hearing officer or person in charge of the investigation may seek the presence of a prosecuting attorney or other representative of the Department of Justice during any interview when such presence would advance the purposes of the interview. There is no required method of recording the proceedings. Interviews or interrogations can be recorded or taken by a court reporter or simply reduced to writing by the examining officer as the witness testifies. See Addendum “A” to this Opinion and Order. As indicated above, the Commission has the power to compel the attendance of witnesses. A witness is only given limited notice of the subject matter of the investigation before being asked to appear and testify. The witness may be allowed to bring an attorney to the interview. The Commission, however, limits the participation of the attorney. Counsel may not question his client as to any relevant matter. The witness and his counsel have no right to examine other witnesses. The Commission does not recognize the right to cross-examine witnesses. The procedure is such that the witness or his attorney may not even submit to the Commission proposed questions to be asked of any other witness appearing before it, inasmuch as the Commission has sole authority to decide what to ask and what must be produced. The executive order that creates the Commission does not provide a person who might be incriminated or defamed as a result of the publication of the Commission’s report an opportunity to further appear and be heard, or to call a reasonable number of witnesses on his behalf. The Commission employs a staff to conduct investigations of past government transactions. The Commission’s investigative staff includes: Attorney and former Special Independent Prosecutor Brenda León-Suárez, executive director of the Commission; attorney José Sagardia; attorney Gilberto Vilá-Pérez; CPA Luis E. Gutiérrez; and attorney Nilsa Garcia. These investigators conduct hearings, at which they receive testimony from witnesses. León-Suárez provides periodic progress reports regarding the status of ongoing investigations to the Commissioners. The Commissioners analyze the sworn statements, documentary evidence, and notes on interviews of witnesses collected by the investigative staff, and León-Suárez, in conjunction with the other investigators, prepares a draft of the factual findings that will serve as the basis for the Commission’s report to the Governor. The Commissioners then discuss the findings and draft the conclusions and recommendations portions of the report. In addition to the factual findings, conclusions, and recommendations contained in the main body of the report, the Governor also receives the report’s exhibits, which consist of letters, contracts, electronic mail print-outs, notes of interviews, and sworn statements obtained by the Commission. After the report is submitted to the Governor, the Commissioners discuss their findings with her prior to the holding of a press conference. III. The Blue Ribbon Commission’s Investigation of Plaintiffs A. Plaintiff Jorge E. Aponte On March 21, 2001, an armed agent of the Special Independent Prosecutor’s Office, along with a Treasury Department agent, delivered a summons to the home of Plaintiff Aponte. Pis.’ Exh. 18. The summons requested Plaintiff Aponte’s appearance at a hearing scheduled for the afternoon of March 29, 2001. The document did not indicate the specific subject matter of the hearing. Plaintiff Aponte appeared at the Commission’s office in the Red Palace building annexed to La Fortaleza, the Governor’s mansion, in San Juan, at the designated time. He hand-delivered a letter to León-Suárez, requesting the following: A copy of Executive Order No.2001-06; a copy of the Commission’s bylaws; the specific topic to be discussed at the hearing; a copy of any opinion by the Puerto Rico Secretary of Justice explicating the legal basis for the Commission to be able to compel witnesses to appear before it, if any such opinion existed; and information regarding the appointment of counsel to assist him in these proceedings. León-Suárez informed Plaintiff Aponte that she would forward his requests to the Commissioners, but she was certain that he was not entitled to appointment of counsel in connection with the Commission’s investigation. León-Suárez submitted a written response dated April 11, 2001, to which she attached a copy of Executive Order 2001-06 and the Commission’s bylaws, as requested by Plaintiff Aponte. León-Suá-rez informed Plaintiff Aponte that the Commission was interested in his testimony in relation to the purchase of the 306 Barbosa Avenue building and the contiguous lot at 307 Italia Street. The letter summoned Plaintiff Aponte to appear at a hearing scheduled for April 19, 2001. Plaintiff Aponte attended the hearing in part because León-Suárez had assured him that his role in the proceedings was only to testify to the validity or authenticity of certain documents. Plaintiff Aponte was not aware that the Commission was investigating him for misconduct. He believed that if he refused to appear, the Commission would conclude that he was hiding something. Plaintiff Aponte had reviewed the executive order and bylaws of the Commission which he had been provided, and he had determined that if he did not appear before the Commission as required pursuant to said documents, he would have been forced to appear under compulsion of legal process. On April 19, 2001, Commission investigators León-Suárez, Sagardía, Gutiérrez, and Vilá-Pérez interviewed Plaintiff Aponte. Plaintiff Aponte informed the investigators that he believed the Commission was unconstitutional. He asked to record or take notes of the hearing, but León-Suárez refused those requests. When the investigators began to take notes of the proceedings, Plaintiff Aponte asked for a copy of their notes, but his request was denied. León-Suárez asked Plaintiff Aponte if he was willing to have a stenographer record the hearing. Since Plaintiff Aponte could not verify whether the stenographer’s record would be accurate and considering that he did not have the assistance of an attorney, he declined. During the hearing, Plaintiff Aponte was not advised of any constitutional rights that may have applied to him. The Commission’s investigators questioned him regarding the Barbosa 306 transaction. The investigators’ report of interview forms part of Court Exhibit 4-3. Court Exhibits 4 and 8 are photocopies made by the court of additional exhibits ordered to be produced. These are the reports of interview, sworn statements, and Part II of the PRIME report. They cover both transactions under scrutiny. See Minutes of In-Chambers Proceedings, dated November 29, 2001, Addendum “B” to this Opinion and Order. B. Plaintiff Daniel Pagán On March 22, 2001, an armed agent of the Puerto Rico Department of Justice Special Investigations Bureau, which is known by its Spanish acronym “NIE”, served Plaintiff Pagán at his home with a summons to appear before the Blue Ribbon Commission on March 27, 2001. Pis.’ Exh. 1. In a letter dated March 26, 2001, Plaintiff Pagán notified León-Suárez that he had a previous appointment to appear before the Puerto Rico House of Representatives the following day. See Pis. ’ Exh. 2. Plaintiff Pagán informed León-Suárez that although he believed the Commission did not have the authority to issue summonses compelling witnesses to appear before it, he was more than willing to cooperate with the work of the Commission. Plaintiff Pa-gán spoke with attorney Andrés Guille-mard regarding the drafting of the letter. Plaintiff Pagán believed that, although the Commission did not have the power to subpoena him, he was required to appear before it based on his previous experience of working with the Department of Justice and the NIE in investigations of other persons. In those prior investigations, formal actions had been initiated against certain individuals. In light of the fact that an armed law enforcement agent had appeared at his home to serve him with a summons from the Commission, Plaintiff Pagán perceived that the situation was very grave and he felt he had a responsibility to make an appearance. On the morning of April 25, 2001, Plaintiff Pagán appeared at the Commission’s offices in the Red Palace. Plaintiff Pagán arrived alone because he believed he did not need the assistance of an attorney. León-Suárez, attorney Vilá-Pérez, and auditor Gutiérrez conducted the three-hour interview of Plaintiff Pagán. According to Defendant Noriega-Rodriguez, the Commissioners did not suspect Plaintiff Pagán of having engaged in criminal conduct at the time of his appearance before the Commission. However, we note that at the time Plaintiffs Pagán and Aponte were interviewed, the bulk of the investigation had been completed. Plaintiff Pagán was the last witness to be called before the Commission. See Court Exh. Nos. U-2, Jp-S. Plaintiff Pagán was not given any specific advice about any right that may have attached to him in the context of the Commission’s investigation. He was not advised of any circumstance under which he would have had the right to have an attorney present at the hearing. He was not told that he had a right to remain silent. Plaintiff Pagán was not informed that he had a right to bring witnesses or present other evidence on his behalf. He requested that he be allowed to take notes of or record the investigative hearing. León-Suárez denied both of Plaintiff Pagán’s requests. Vilá-Pérez equated the interview with a grand jury proceeding, and he explained to Plaintiff Pa-gán that witnesses testifying before a grand jury were not allowed to take notes or record the proceedings. Plaintiff Pagán then realized that he was the subject of the Commission’s investigation. He requested that León-Suárez provide him with a copy of the internal procedural guidelines used by the Commission. León-Suárez agreed to answer his request at a later date, but then failed to do so. Plaintiff Pagán did not request the assistance of counsel. At the hearing, Plaintiff Pagán offered information and documentary evidence to the Commission. He did not testify under oath and he did not sign any sworn statement, but the investigators reduced his interview to writing. See Report of Interview, Court Exhibit 1-3. Plaintiff Pagán was not confronted with any witnesses testifying against Mm. On May 9, 2001, Defendants Calderón, Noriega-Rodriguez, and other Commissioners held a press conference to disclose the findings of the Commission’s investigation regarding the lease and purchase of the Barbosa building. Prior to the press conference, Defendant Calderón had met with leaders of the Puerto Rico legislature, one of whom had stated publicly that the Commission’s report contained accusations of a criminal nature. The report was titled, “Irregularities in the Acquisition of the Building Located at 306 Barbosa and the Adjacent Lot at 307 Italia Street.” Pis. ’ Exh. I. At the press conference, Defendant Calderón announced that she was referring the matter to the Secretary of Justice of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as the Commissioners had recommended. In addition to the accusations of criminal misconduct included in the report against both Pagán and Aponte, at the press conference Defendant Noriega-Rodriguez speculated that Plaintiff Aponte might have profited personally from the Barbosa transaction. At the time of the press conference, Plaintiffs Pagán and Aponte had not been given an opportunity to respond to the Commission’s conclusions. In fact, neither had received a copy of the report. With regard to Plaintiffs, the report makes the following specific conclusions: As a direct consequence of contracts approved in 1998 and 1999 by the CPA Jorge Aponte, then Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OGP), and by the engineer Daniel Pagán, then Secretary of the Department of Natural and [Environmental] Resources, in the process of acquiring for government purposes the building located at 306 Barbosa Avenue and the adjacent lot at 307 Italia Street, and between the lease and the purchase of those properties, public funds were paid out, amounting to $9,300,000, which sum is more than $7 million in excess of the fair market value of said properties. In the face of that situation, all possible legal avenues (administrative, civil, or criminal) which might allow the public treasury to recover the aforesaid excess, must be explored. ... The data compiled by the Commission in this case clearly revealed that both CPA Jorge Aponte, then Director of the OGP, and engineer Daniel Pagán, then Secretary of the DRNA, at the very least were grossly negligent in assigning the function of negotiating a multi-million-dollar transaction to certain subordinate functionaries who, in the Commission’s judgment, lacked the necessary capability to handle a matter of such magnitude. Those data further reveal that both Messrs. Aponte and Pagán at the very least were repeatedly and grossly negligent in failing to adequately supervise the dealings that their aforesaid subordinates were making in the aforesaid transaction. Pis.’ Exh h. In their report, Defendant Commissioners also speculate that the Barbosa 306 transaction may have been hampered by “improper influences,” and there may have been a conspiracy to defraud the public treasury. On May 11, 2001, Plaintiff Pagán submitted a written request to León-Suárez for a copy of the Commission’s report. Pis. ’ Exh. 5. Three days later, León-Suá-rez notified Plaintiff Pagán that she was not authorized to provide him with a copy of the report, and that she had forwarded his letter to La Fortaleza. Pis.’ Exh. 6. On May 15, 2001, Defendant Calderon’s legal advisor informed Plaintiff Pagán that he could obtain a copy of the document through La Fortaleza. Pis. ’ Exh. 7. Plaintiff Pagán picked up a copy of the Commission’s report, which was missing the exhibits of the evidence relied upon by the Commission and forwarded to the Governor. In a letter dated July 30, 2001, León-Suárez requested Plaintiff Pagán to appear for a second time before the Blue Ribbon Commission on August 6, 2001, in relation to its investigation of the remodeling of the Barbosa 306 building and of the contract between PRIME and the Solid Waste Authority, which is known by its Spanish acronym “ADS”. Pis.’ Exh. 3. The summons was delivered via certified mail with return receipt requested. Plaintiff Pagán chose not to appear at the scheduled hearing. In late October 2001, the Commission delivered the first part of a report on its investigation into the contract between the Solid Waste Authority and PRIME. On October 31, 2001, Defendants Calderón and the Commissioners held a news conference to expose the contents of the report. The PRIME report included the following paragraph: Then-secretary of the DRNA, Engineer Daniel Pagán Rosa, improperly intervened in the stage of reconsideration of the awarding of a bid procedure to the ADS for a project for the recovery of clean material at the municipality of Toa Baja in particular. And after the bid board of the ADS had adjudicated said bid and they had reaffirmed their decision to deny a motion for reconsideration, Engineer Pagán Rosa ordered the president of the bid board to cause the disappearance of the documents which evidenced this last decision of the board, and in its place the board should annul the previously adjudicated bid. Pis.’ Exh. 8. Defendant Calderón forwarded the report to the Secretary of Justice, and the Secretary of Justice then referred the matter to the Special Independent Prosecutor. The Secretary of Justice had been apprised of the Commission’s investigation into the PRIME matter since August, and the Commission had been working in close collaboration with the Department of Justice. On November 1, 2001, the Commission submitted the second part of its report on the PRIME matter to Defendant Calder-ón. The Commissioners have given a presentation about the report to the Governor, but as of November 8, 2001, she had not read the document. On November 4, 2001, the Puerto Rico Department of Justice referred the matter to a Special Independent Prosecutor for further proceedings. Docket Document No. 39. See Part II of the PRIME Report, Court Exh. 8-1. On November 26, 2001, EL NUEVO DÍA, a local newspaper, published the results of Part II of the PRIME report. The court is not aware whether plaintiffs received a copy. IV. Procedural History On July 16, 2001, Plaintiffs filed the present complaint. Docket Document No. 1. While the complaint is somewhat teneb-rous, we can discern that Plaintiffs are alleging violations of their First Amendment, equal protection, and due process rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution. U.S. Const, amends. I, V, XIV. Plaintiffs also allege violations of Article II, Sections 1, 6, 7, and 8 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, P.R. Const, art. II, §§ 1, 6, 7, 8, and 31 L.P.R.A. § 5141 (1990). Plaintiffs aver that the Commission is invalid because it violates the principle of separation of powers enshrined in the Puerto Rico Constitution. Plaintiffs claim that this court has subject matter jurisdiction over their state-law claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367 (1993). Plaintiffs Aponte and Pagán each seek compensatory damages for violations of their federal constitutional rights and for Defendants’ alleged tort-law violations. Plaintiffs allege that they have suffered great mental and emotional anguish due to the harm inflicted upon their personal and professional reputation. Plaintiffs maintain that Defendants’ actions have prevented them from obtaining employment in the public and private sectors. In addition, Plaintiffs claim to have experienced tremendous fear and anxiety due to the possibility that frivolous criminal charges will be brought against them. Furthermore, Plaintiffs demand punitive damages. Plaintiffs also seek a declaratory judgment stating that the Commission violates the United States Constitution and the Constitution and laws of Puerto Rico. Plaintiffs also request injunctive relief barring Defendants from violating Plaintiffs’ constitutional rights and ordering Defendant Calderón to vacate Executive Order No.2001-06 and to permanently dissolve the Commission. On August 13, 2001, Plaintiff Pagán filed a motion for a preliminary injunction. Docket Document No. 7. Plaintiff Pagán requests that this court bar Defendants from further harassing him with respect to their investigation on the remodeling of the Barbosa building and on the contract between PRIME and the Solid Waste Authority. Defendants oppose Plaintiff Pa-gán’s motion for a preliminary injunction. Docket Document Nos. 12, 16, 22, 23. On September 4, 2001, Defendants Noriega-Rodríguez, Colón-Cario, Vélez-Bor-rás, Galarza, López-Oliver, and Hermida (“Defendant Commissioners”) filed a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss on the following grounds: (1) Plaintiffs’ procedural due process claims fail because they have not identified a constitutionally protected liberty or property interest; (2) even if Plaintiffs’ procedural due process rights were violated, such deprivations were “random and unauthorized,” and Plaintiffs have failed to allege the unavailability of an adequate post-deprivation state-law remedy; (3) Plaintiffs’ claims of denial of their right to a fair trial, the presumption of innocence, and effective assistance of counsel are not ripe; (4) defamation is not a constitutional cause of action; (5) Plaintiffs’ conclusory allegations with regard to political discrimination are insufficient to state an equal protection or First Amendment claim; (6) Defendant Commissioners are protected by the doctrine of qualified immunity; and (7) this court should decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over Plaintiffs’ state-law claims. Docket Document No. 18. Defendant Calderón joins Defendant Commissioners’ motion to dismiss. Docket Document No. 16. On September 5, 2001, Plaintiff Pagan filed a motion to supplement his preliminary injunction motion. Docket Document No. 15. Plaintiff Pagán contends that this court should rely on Jenkins v. McKeithen, 395 U.S. 411, 89 S.Ct. 1843, 23 L.Ed.2d 404 (1969), to find that Plaintiffs have prevailed on the merits. Defendants filed a supplementary motion of law arguing that Jenkins does not apply to the instant case. Docket Document Nos. 28, 25. On September 13, 2001, Plaintiffs filed a motion for partial summary judgment. Docket Document No. 21. Plaintiffs asseverate that they are entitled to judgment as a matter of law with regard to their First Amendment, equal protection, and due process claims. Plaintiffs’ lengthy brief, which largely reiterates previous filings, does not present any new arguments for this court to consider. Defendants oppose Plaintiffs’ summary judgment motion. Docket Document Nos. 31, 82. On September 17, 2001, Defendant Cal-derón filed a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss the complaint against her on the following grounds: (1) the allegations of the complaint are insufficient to state a claim of defamation; (2) injury to one’s reputation is only actionable under Section 1983 if the harm to reputation is accompanied by the loss of a current governmental entitlement; (3) the superfluous nature of the Blue Ribbon Commission is not a matter that this court should concern itself with; (4) Jenkins is not controlling; and (5) Defendant Calderón is entitled to absolute and/or qualified immunity. Docket Document No. 25. On September 28, 2001, Plaintiffs filed a consolidated opposition to Defendants’ motions to dismiss. Docket Document No. SO. On November 1, 2001, Plaintiff Pagán filed a motion for a temporary restraining order prohibiting Defendants from making further statements regarding the PRIME report. Docket Document No. 36. The court denied the request without prejudice due to the proximity of a scheduled hearing. On November 6-8, 2001, this court held an injunctive relief hearing. Y. Analysis We assess the relevant arguments presented in the parties’ various dispositive motions, along with Plaintiffs’ requests for injunctive and declaratory relief. A. Ripeness We first consider whether this case is justiciable. The purpose of the ripeness doctrine is “ ‘to prevent the courts, through avoidance of premature adjudication, from entangling themselves in abstract disagreements.’ ” Stern v. United States Dist. Court for the Dist. of Mass., 214 F.3d 4, 10 (1st Cir.2000) (internal citation omitted). The “linchpin of ripeness ... is adverseness.” Rhode Island v. Narragansett Indian Tribe, 19 F.3d 685, 692 (1st Cir.1994). We find that Plaintiffs have a genuine threat of prosecution for the various criminal offenses outlined infra. The close collaboration between the Blue Ribbon Commission and law enforcement agencies, along with the public accusations of criminal misconduct against Plaintiffs, evidence the likelihood that Plaintiffs may be prosecuted for violations of Puerto Rico’s Penal Code. Consequently, we find that the present case is ripe for adjudication. See R.I. Ass’n of Realtors, Inc. v. Whitehouse, 199 F.3d 26, 33 (1st Cir.1999) (“ ‘Our conclusion that a reasonable threat of prosecution exists ... effectively dispenses with any ripeness problem.’ ”) (internal citation omitted). B. Younger Abstention In Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37, 91 S.Ct. 746, 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971), the Supreme Court held that federal courts are obligated to abstain from adjudicating federal claims if such adjudication would involve needless interference into state court criminal proceedings. Id. at 44, 91 S.Ct. 746. Pursuant to Younger, a federal court should abstain from deciding the merits of a case if [t]here is (1) an ongoing state judicial proceeding, instituted prior to the federal proceeding (or, at least, instituted pri- or to any substantial progress in the federal proceeding), that (2) implicates an important state interest, and (3) provides an adequate opportunity for the plaintiff to raise the claims advanced in his federal lawsuit. Brooks v. N.H. Supreme Court, 80 F.3d 633, 638 (1st Cir.1996). In certain circumstances, a federal court may be obligated to abstain from adjudicating a federal case to prevent interference with ongoing state administrative proceedings. Ohio Civil Rights Comm’n v. Dayton Christian Schs., Inc., 477 U.S. 619, 627, 106 S.Ct. 2718, 91 L.Ed.2d 512 (1986). We find that the principles of Younger do not apply to the present case. First, there are no ongoing state criminal proceedings pending against Plaintiffs. Although the transactions investigated by the Blue Ribbon Commission have been referred to the Department of Justice, there have been no formal criminal charges filed against them. Second, there appears to be no ongoing state administrative proceeding involving Plaintiffs. The Commission’s investigation of the Barbosa 306 transaction concluded in the spring of this year, and the report was released to the public on May 9, 2001. The Commission’s investigation of the PRIME matter has also terminated, and the Commission forwarded the second and final part of its report to Defendant Calderón on November 1, 2001. Since there appears to be no ongoing state criminal or administrative proceedings involving Plaintiffs, we reject Defendants’ contention that this court should abstain from deciding this case pursuant to Younger. C.Absolute Immunity Public officials acting in a legislative capacity enjoy absolute immunity from liability under Section 1983. Romero-Barcelo v. Hernandez-Agosto, 75 F.3d 23, 28 (1st Cir.1996). The question of whether an official can properly invoke absolute immunity hinges on the function performed by that individual, not on his or her official title. Acevedo-Garcia v. Vera-Monroig, 204 F.3d 1, 8 (1st Cir.2000). An official is protected by absolute immunity in the performance of legislative acts only; absolute immunity does not shield an official from liability for administrative or executive acts. Id. at 7-8. The test to determine whether an act is legislative or administrative is two-pronged. First, if the facts underlying the decision are ‘generalizations concerning a policy or state of affairs,’ the decision is legislative. If the decision stems from specific facts relating to particular individuals or situations, the act is administrative. Second, the court must consider ‘the particularity of the impact of the state of action.’ ‘If the action involves establishment of a general policy, it is legislative;’ if it ‘single[s] out specifiable individuals and affect[s] them differently from others,’ it is administrative. Id. at 9. Here, it appears that Defendant Calderon was inspired to create the Blue Ribbon Commission out of concern about purported corruption within a particular New Progressive Party administration. Defendant Calderon’s promulgation of Executive Order 2001-06, receipt of investigative reports from the Blue Ribbon Commission, referral of matters to the Department of Justice, and staging of news conferences disclosing the findings of the Commission apparently stemmed from specific facts relating to the Rosselló administration. Even if this were not the case and Defendant Calderon’s actions were motivated by a general, abstract policy against corruption, we note that Defendants’ implementation of the executive order has unquestionably targeted particular individuals. Cf Acevedo-Garcia, 204 F.3d at 8-9. The investigations carried out by the Blue Ribbon Commission and the subsequent public accusations of misconduct unquestionably single out specific individuals, including Plaintiffs, and have profoundly and uniquely impacted their lives. We conclude that the creation and operation of the Blue Ribbon Commission is an administrative, not a legislative act, and that therefore Defendant Calderón is not entitled to absolute immunity. D. Injunctive Relief Pursuant to Rule 65 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, we consolidated the injunctive relief hearing with the trial on the merits, and we determine whether Plaintiffs are entitled to permanent injunc-tive relief. Fed. R. Civ. P. 65(a)(2). To issue a permanent injunction, a district court must make the following findings: “(1) plaintiffs prevail on the merits; (2) plaintiffs would suffer irreparable injury in the absence of injunctive relief; (3) the harm to plaintiffs would outweigh the harm the defendant would suffer from the imposition of an injunction; and (4) the public interest would not be adversely affected by an injunction.” A.W. Chesterton Co. v. Chesterton, 128 F.3d 1, 5 (1st Cir.1997). 1. Success on the Merits To prevail on a Section 1983 claim, a plaintiff must make two showings: “ ‘(i) that the conduct complained of has been committed under color of state law, and (ii) that this conduct worked a denial of rights secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States.’ ” Collins v. Nuzzo, 244 F.3d 246, 250 (1st Cir.2001). a. First Amendment Plaintiffs argue that their constitutional rights to freedom of speech and of association have been violated by the actions of the Commission. According to Plaintiffs, Defendants invidiously discriminated against Plaintiffs due to their political affiliation, in violation of the First Amendment. Plaintiffs claim that the Blue Ribbon Commission is an instrument used by the Popular Democratic Party (“PDP”) to persecute persons who advocate statehood for Puerto Rico. Plaintiffs allege that the following facts evidence Defendants’ discriminatory animus against Plaintiffs on the basis of their affiliation with the New Progressive Party (“NPP”): (1) Defendant Calderón has made numerous public statements about the allegedly widespread corruption within the Rosselló administration; (2) none of the members of the Commission are affiliated with the New Progressive Party; (3) several Commissioners have had ties with PDP administrations and Defendant Noriega-Rodriguez ran for governor on the Puerto Rican Independence Party ticket; (4) the Commission is purportedly focused only on questionable transactions of the Rosselló administration; (5) other government institutions, such as the Office of the Comptroller, the Department of Justice, and the Office of the Special Independent Prosecutor fulfill similar functions as the Commission, and, therefore, the Commission is superfluous; (6) Defendant Calderon’s process of selecting Commissioners is subjective and arbitrary; (7) Defendant Commissioners serve at the pleasure of Defendant Calderón and therefore lack independence from her; and (8) Executive Order 2001-06 and the Commission’s internal regulations lack guidelines as to how the Commission should select transactions to investigate and how the Commission should conduct its investigations so as to protect the constitutional rights of persons under scrutiny. The First Amendment reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” U.S. Const, amend. I. The primary purpose of the First Amendment is to protect political expression. 4 Ronald D. Rotunda & John E. Nowak:, Treatise on Constitutional Law: Substance and PROCEDURE § 20.50 (3d ed.1999). The First Circuit has not developed a general standard for courts to evaluate all types of alleged First Amendment violations in Section 1983 cases. See Romero Barcelo v. Hernandez Agosto, 876 F.Supp. 1332, 1347 (D.P.R.1995), aff'd, 75 F.3d 23 (1st Cir.1996). The courts have held that the First Amendment prohibits certain types of government action which limit individuals’ freedom to speak and to participate in political activities. For example, the First Circuit has ruled that non-policymaking public employees may not be terminated because of their political views. See, e.g., Padilla-Garcia v. Guillermo Rodriguez, 212 F.3d 69, 74 (1st Cir.2000). Public employees may also sustain a Section 1983 First Amendment claim on the basis of an adverse employment action taken against them in relation to speech regarding public matters. Tang v. State of R.I., Dep’t of Elderly Affairs, 168 F.3d 7, 11-12 (1st Cir.1998). The First Circuit has not, however, formulated a general standard to be applied in First Amendment cases that do not arise in particular contexts such as these. The crux of Plaintiffs’ First Amendment claim is that Plaintiffs are associated with the New Progressive Party, while Defendants are not. Plaintiffs conclude that the actions taken by Defendants constitute a violation of Plaintiffs’ First Amendment right to associate with the political party of their choosing. We find that Plaintiffs have not prevailed on the merits of their First Amendment claim. The bare fact that Defendants are not openly identified with Plaintiffs’ party of choice, the New Progressive Party, clearly does not rise to the level of a First Amendment violation. See Correa-Martinez v. Arrillaga-Belendez, 903 F.2d 49, 58 (1st Cir.1990) (“Merely juxtaposing a protected eharacteristic-someone else’s polities-with the fact that plaintiff was treated unfairly is not enough to state a constitutional claim.”). If this court were to conclude otherwise, every disgruntled individual who had been subjected to any kind of undesired treatment by a state actor affiliated with a rival political group would be able to seek relief in federal court for infringements upon his or her First Amendment rights. Despite Plaintiffs’ protestations to the contrary, the Constitution does not afford such sweeping protections. b. Equal Protection In addition to their First Amendment and due process claims, Plaintiffs have alleged a violation of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Since the class allegedly suffering discrimination consists of persons belonging to a particular political party, we find that the so-called equal protection claim is nothing more than a restatement of Plaintiffs’ First Amendment claim. Viewing it as such, and concluding that Plaintiffs cannot, by pleading equal protection, outdistance the constitutional protection afforded by the First Amendment, we dismiss Plaintiffs’ equal protection claims. See 3 Rotunda & Nowak, § 18.40 (“It is generally unnecessary to analyze laws which burden the exercise of First Amendment rights by a class of persons under the equal protection guarantee, because the substantive guarantees of the Amendment serve as the strongest protection against the limitation of these rights.”). c. Procedural Due Process Under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, no State shall “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” U.S. Const. amend. IV, § 1. The essential inquiry under the due process clause is whether Plaintiffs were treated fairly. 3 Rotunda & Nowak, § 17.8. The Constitution demands that the state cannot deprive an individual of a significant interest in liberty or property without first warning the individual and providing “an opportunity to be heard ‘at a meaningful time and in a meaningful manner.’ ” Amsden v. Moran, 904 F.2d 748, 753 (1st Cir.1990) (quoting Armstrong v. Manzo, 380 U.S. 545, 552, 85 S.Ct. 1187, 14 L.Ed.2d 62 (1965)). To establish a procedural due process claim, a plaintiff must show that (1) he has a constitutionally protected interest in life, liberty, or property, and (2) the state deprived him of that interest without due process of law. See Romero-Barcelo, 75 F.3d at 32; PFZ Props., Inc. v. Rodriguez, 928 F.2d 28, 30 (1st Cir.1991). Plaintiffs argue that they have a constitutionally protected property and liberty interest in their good name. Plaintiffs Pa-gán and Aponte both testified that Defendants’ conduct has caused serious injury to their professional reputations. Plaintiffs claim that their careers have suffered greatly as a result of the Commission’s issuance of reports accusing them of criminal activity. Plaintiffs also maintain that they were denied their constitutional right to a fair trial in which defendants are to be presumed innocent and to be assisted by counsel. An individual’s interest in his reputation is constitutionally protected only if the interest is [a]ceompanied by a change in the [victim’s] status or rights (under substantive state or federal law), perhaps as a touchstone (or concrete evidence) of the fact that the injury to reputation was inflicted as a result of a conscious government policy and is serious enough to interfere with other liberties of the sort suggested in Meyer [v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390, 43 S.Ct. 625, 67 L.Ed. 1042 (1923) ]. Beitzell v. Jeffrey, 643 F.2d 870, 878 (1st Cir.1981). The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico protects an individual from attacks on his reputation. P.R. Const, art. II, § 8 (“Every person has the right to the protection of law against abusive attacks on his honor, reputation and private or family life.”). The First Circuit has found that Section 8 may create a constitutionally protected liberty interest in one’s reputation. Romero-Barcelo, 75 F.3d at 33. An individual does not enjoy a constitutionally protected interest in his own reputation unless the harm to his reputation is “unusually serious.” Beitzell, 643 F.2d at 878. This court need not decide whether Plaintiffs’ interest in their reputation rises to a constitutionally protected level in the case at bar, because we find that Plaintiffs have a fundamental, constitutionally protected liberty interest in being free from investigation and prosecution for criminal offenses in a manner that tramples upon the procedural protections afforded by the Fourteenth Amendment. See, e.g., Jenkins v. McKeithen, 395 U.S. 411, 89 S.Ct. 1843, 23 L.Ed.2d 404 (1969) (explicated infra); Gabrilowitz v. Newman, 582 F.2d 100, 107 (1st Cir.1978) (student had a due process right to counsel at a college disciplinary hearing due to the pending criminal case against him); Watson v. County of Riverside, 976 F.Supp. 951, 956 (C.D.Ca.1997) (due in part to the possibility of criminal prosecution, police officer had a due process interest in being represented by counsel in relation to the drafting of a report about an incident of police brutality). The due process clause requires the imposition of numerous procedural safeguards at every stage of the criminal investigatory and adjudicatory process for the protection of individuals. See 1 Wayne R. Laeave et al., CRIMINAL PROCEduke § 2.7(a) (2d ed.1999). The liberty interest protected by the due process clause plainly includes liberty from unjust imprisonment. Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390, 399, 43 S.Ct. 625, 67 L.Ed. 1042 (1923) (liberty “denotes not merely freedom from bodily restraint”). Although they have not yet been formally charged, Plaintiffs have been accused of serious violations of the Puerto Rico criminal code, and they have a protected interest in being free from prosecution in a manner that does not uphold constitutional requisites of due process. The May 1, 2001 Commission report included the following conclusion: The data compiled by the Commission in this case clearly revealed that both CPA Jorge Aponte, then Director of the OGP, and engineer Daniel Pagán, then Secretary of the DRNA, at the very least were grossly negligent in assigning the function of negotiating a multi-million-dollar transaction to certain subordinate functionaries who, in the Commission’s judgment, lacked the necessary capability to handle a matter of such magnitude. Those data further reveal that both Messrs. Aponte and Pagán at the very least were repeatedly and grossly negligent in failing to adequately supervise the dealings that their aforesaid subordinates were making in the aforesaid transaction. Pis. ’ Exh. Jp. At a bare minimum, the report clearly accuses Plaintiffs of violating Section 4366 of the Puerto Rico Penal Code: Every public officer who wilfully neglects to perform the duties of his office or employment, or who violates any legal provision relative to his duties or those of his office or employment, for which no special provision fixing the corresponding penalty is prescribed, shall be punishable by imprisonment not exceeding six months or a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or both, in the discretion of the court. 33 L.P.R.A. § 4366 (1983). In addition, Plaintiffs are at risk of prosecution for committing crimes against public funds in violation of Section 4391. Any public official or employee and any person in charge of receiving, keeping, transferring or reimbursing public funds who performs any of the following acts shall be punished with imprisonment for a fixed term of six (6) years: (k) Neglects or fails to safekeep or disburse public funds as prescribed by law. 33 L.P.R.A. § 4391 (1983 & Supp. I 1998). The PRIME report released on October 31, 2001, contained the following conclusion accusing Plaintiff Pagán of criminal conduct: Then-secretary of the DRNA, Engineer Daniel Pagán Rosa, improperly intervened in the stage of reconsideration of the awarding of a bid procedure to the ADS for a project for the recovery of clean material at the municipality of Toa Baja in particular. And after the bid board of the ADS had adjudicated said bid and they had reaffirmed their decision to deny a motion for reconsideration, Engineer Pagán Rosa ordered the president of the bid board to cause the disappearance of the documents which evidenced this last decision of the board, and in its place the board should annul the previously adjudicated bid. Pis.’ Exh. 8. The Commission concluded that Plaintiff Pagán had committed undue intervention in the performance of contracts, bidding procedures or government operations in violation of Section 4353a of the Penal Code: Every public official or employee who, without legal authority, intervenes unduly in the performance of a contract, bidding procedure or any other operation of the Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico by willfully omitting or committing any act that constitutes an unequivocal violation of the laws, regulations and norms applicable to these transactions with the sole purpose of benefiting a particular person, shall be punished by imprisonment for a fixed term of three (3) years. In the event of aggravating circumstances, the established fixed term shall be increased up to a maximum of five (5) years; if there were extenuating circumstances, it shall be reduced to a minimum of two (2) years. 33 L.P.R.A. § 4353a (1983 & Supp. 1 1998). In addition, Plaintiff Pagán may be prosecuted for committing destruction or mutilation of documents in violation of Section 4356 of the Penal Code: Every public officer or employee in charge of the custody of any original public document ... who willfully takes, destroys, removes or conceals in whole or in part, or who permits another person to do so, shall be punishable by imprisonment for a fixed term of six (6) years. If there were aggravating circumstances, the fixed penalty established may be increased up to a maximum of ten (10) years; if there were extenuating circumstances it could be reduced to a minimum of four (4) years. 33 L.P.R.A. § 4356 (1983 & Supp. I 1998). Given the likelihood that serious criminal charges will be brought against Plaintiffs as a result of the Commission’s investigations, it is pellucid that Plaintiffs have a constitutionally protected liberty interest in ensuring that the state acts in accordance with due process standards in the prosecution of Plaintiffs. The requirements of procedural due process are flexible and depend on the specific situation at issue. Amsden, 904 F.2d at 753. The United States Supreme Court enunciated the factors that must be balanced in a procedural due process analysis in Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319, 96 S.Ct. 893, 47 L.Ed.2d 18 (1976): First, the private interest that will be affected by the official action; second, the risk of an erroneous deprivation of such interest through the procedures used, and the probable value, if any, of additional or substitute procedural safeguards; and, finally, the Government’s interest, including the function involved and the fiscal and administrative burdens that the additional or substitute procedural requirements would entail. Id. at 334-35, 96 S.Ct. 893. When the government deprives an individual of an interest in life, liberty, or property, the elements of due process which may be required are: (1) adequate notice of the charges or basis for government action; (2) a neutral decision-maker; (3) an opportunity to make an oral presentation to the decision-maker; (4) an opportunity to present evide