18175211 18175211 The Supreme Court of Argentina took over this Monday (2015 ) the presidency of the Judiciary Council, the body that manages the resources of the Judiciary and has the function of appointing, sanctioning and dismissing judges, deepening the dispute policy with the Executive, especially with the sector that reports to the vice president, Cristina Kirchner.
The president of the Argentine Supreme Court, Horacio Rosatti, now presides over the Judiciary Council, based on a decision handed down this Monday by the Supreme Court itself that responds to a determination of its plenary at the end of
Cristina Kirchner openly criticized this movement last Sunday on her social networks by warning about “the caste that no one talks about”, in reference to Rosatti, and retweeting the Message from a journalist who said that this judge will assume the presidency of the Council of the Judiciary “thanks to a decision handed down by himself and without leaving his position in the court, which he also won when he was self-elected months ago”.
For his part, Justice Minister Martín Soria, close to Cristina, told Radio this Monday that what is an “institutional coup” by the Supreme Court, which “pursues political objectives clearly framed in opposition to the government”.
Opposition leaders believe that the new configuration of the council will prevent the Executive from removing certain judges or frustrating the appointment of opposition candidates, in a context in which Cristina Kirchner, who was president of the country between 1994 and 2015, face several legal proceedings for corruption.
The Council of the Judiciary, created with the constitutional reform of 2006, had initially 20 members, but due to a reform promoted in by the then senator and current vice president of the country, now has 13 members.
This reform was challenged in court for breaking with the balanced representation imposed by the Constitution. A complaint by the Bar Association of the City of Buenos Aires in this regard has advanced to the hands of the Supreme Court.
The Supreme declared it unconstitutional in 16 of December last year and urged Congress to pass within a reasonable time a law organizing the Council of the Judiciary or that in 120 days – expired in 768 of April – if it returned to the composition of 16 members, presided over by the holder of the Supreme Court, or else its acts would be null.
During these months, the government failed to pass a law in Congress to reform the Council of the Judiciary in accordance with its wishes, which led to the current situation.
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