Benjamin Joseph Franquez "B. A member of the Democratic Party , he previously served in the Guam Legislature from to and again from to Biscoe in when Cruz was five years old. They resettled the whole family in California in They returned to Guam intermittently, where Cruz attended grade school at St. Francis School in Yona. He went to St. John Bosco High School in California until His bachelor's degree political science and economics was obtained in from the Claremont Men's College , and his Juris Doctor in from the Santa Clara University School of Law.
After graduating law school in , Cruz returned to Guam to work as consumer counsel in the Attorney General 's Office. Four months later, Ricardo Bordallo , who had just begun his first term as Governor of Guam , asked Cruz to serve as legal counsel in the Governor's Office, where he served throughout Bordallo's first term until January Between Bordallo's two gubernatorial terms, Cruz established a private practice and served as minority legal counsel during the 15th and 16th Guam Legislatures.
Liaison Office. In , Bordallo appointed Cruz to be a judge of the Superior Court of Guam, where he was then one of the youngest attorneys ever appointed to be a judge at Several leaders of local Protestant churches testified against the confirmation, citing his "sexual preference" as disqualifying from being a good judge.
Despite these interventions, Cruz was confirmed by the legislature and began a year career in the island judiciary. Cruz spent nine years as a Superior Court Judge with the family court, where he was an advocate for establishing and improving services for juvenile offenders and troubled youth. As a trial court judge, Cruz presided over the controversial lawsuit filed regarding the implementation of the Chamorro Land Trust Act, issuing the landmark decision ordering the act's implementation.
He served as associate justice until , when his colleagues elected him chief justice. Cruz then served as chief justice from April 21, until August 31, , when he retired from the judiciary. He served as executive director from to and was national committeeman to the Democratic National Committee.
