Amendments to its organic law also empowers it to appear as a "friend of the court" in cases that the commission deems to have an important effect on civil rights in Puerto Rico.

[2] Structurally, the entity is composed of five members that are appointed to a six-years term by the governor of Puerto Rico, subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.

Alejandro García-Padilla had appointed a previous chair, Georgina Candal Segurola,[3] Esther Vicente Rivera, Rosemary Borges Capó, Ruth Miriam Perez Maldonado and Hiram A. Meléndez Juarbe.

[4][5] Other individuals that have served in the commission include former Sen. Luis Muñoz Rivera, newspaper publisher Antonio Luis Ferré, former Resident Commissioner Baltasar Corrada del Río, and the late UPR Río Piedras campus chancellor Efraín González Tejera.

In spite of complaints that the commission is chronically underfunded, the entity has had a significant influence in Puerto Rican government operations.