After the government passed the '' Ley de la Mordaza '' ( Gag Law ) or Law 53 in 1948 , Amadeo Semidey challenged the resulting crackdown on the Nationalist Party and other dissidents . He used the '' hábeas corpus '' action , in order to expedite the release of Puerto Rican political prisoners , and to question the constitutionality of the Gag Law . He brought a '' habeas corpus '' action before the U.S. Supreme Court , on behalf of Enrique Ayoroa Abreu , who had been arrested following the Ponce massacre . Amadeo Semidey and other attorneys also defended 15 members of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party who were charged with violating the law of '' La Mordaza . '' In 1960 , Amadeo Semidey first ran for the Puerto Rican Senate and was elected . He served for two terms , from 1961 to 1964 , and authored numerous laws which clarified and strengthened the civil rights of Puerto Ricans . This included Concurrent Resolution 1 , which created the Civil Rights Commission in both the Senate and the Camera of Representatives of Puerto Rico
Ponce massacre
Ponce massacre
Santos P. Amadeo