[1] Bordaberry comes from a family heavily involved in politics; his father, who was of Basque descent,[2] was elected president in 1971 and, in 1973, led a self-coup d'état, dissolving the General Assembly and initiated the civil-military dictatorship.

Up until 1 April 2009, Bordaberry was a partner for the Jiménez de Aréchaga, Viana & Brause law firm (now a part of Dentons), a stake that he sold to dedicate himself entirely to his political activity.

[10] On 21 March 2009, Bordaberry was formally accepted as presidential candidate for Vamos Uruguay at a ceremony in a stadium in Montevideo attended by an estimated 7,000 supporters.

In early 2010 Bordaberry called for the establishment of a new university in the interior city of Durazno, with a view to assisting disadvantaged potential students.

[21] After the 2019 presidential primaries in which Ernesto Talvi was confirmed as the presidential candidate of the Colorado Party, and in which the newly created Open Cabildo party obtained a high percentage of right-wing votes, several politicians and the media began to speculate on a possible new candidacy of Bordaberry for the Senate, to avoid a drain of Colorado votes in the general election.

[23] On August 6, 2024, Bordaberry announced his return to active politics and his candidacy for the Senate as head of the Lista 10 electoral list.

[28] Following the inauguration of the Obama administration in the U.S., Bordaberry said that Uruguayan business leaders seeking to export their goods to the U.S. would encounter greater protectionism from U.S.

Juan Maria Bordaberry was arrested in 2006 in connection with the 1976 assassination of two legislators, Senator Zelmar Michelini and House Leader Héctor Gutiérrez.

Bordaberry was put in charge, alongside politician Armando Castaingdebat, and former professional association football player Andrés Scotti.

He is the author of a number of publications, including his books The Principle of Irretroactivity of the Rules in the Jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of Justice (1991), Ten Years of Seven (1998), Stories from Pueblo Faro by José Ignacio (1999) and Let Them Deny Me (2006).