The leadership of the judiciary took advantage of this Annual Judges Association Dinner to send a clear political message to the Casa Rosada and Congress. In a climate of accumulated tension due to the impact of vacancies, the slowness of the selection process and the increasing questions to the Judicial Council, the President of the Supreme Court, Horacio Rosattigave a speech highlighting the institutional limitations of the judicial appointment system.
Rosatti defined that Filling positions such as “the fundamental concern and desire“the judiciaryand explicitly defended the Judicial Council. He did so not only as an endorsement of the body he presides over as chairman of the Supreme Court, but also as a warning against proposals circulating in parts of the ruling party and Congress to change or replace the current system.
The minister emphasized this There are only “three possible systems” for selecting judges: the popular election, the direct appointment of the executive as before the 1994 reform or the current system of public competitions. And he warned that The first two conflict with the constitution.
“PIn order to implement it, the constitution and everything that goes with it must be reformed.“ he noted, referring directly to the increased requirements of special majorities and calling for a Constituent Convention.
In the court’s political interpretation, this reference was no coincidence. Rosatti was responding to various political proposals aimed at reviewing the functioning of the Council or proposing alternative selection models. The message was twofold: support for the organization and institutional warning against any attempt to circumvent current procedures.
Minutes earlier, the Minister of Justice said, Mariano Cúneo Libarona agreed with concerns about job vacancies, but he brought an indictment against Congress. He attributed the inability to advance the specifications to inaction by lawmakers He described Parliament as “a machine for prevention”.
Although he tried to cooperate with the court, the contrast became clear: while the executive blames politicians, Rosatti emphasizes that the council itself accelerates competitions and disciplinary procedures.
The President of the Supreme Court also confirmed the Council’s role in evaluating judges, an area that has historically lagged behind. “It is the council itself that puts the focus on the behavior of judges that arouses suspicion,” he said, as part of a narrative that aims to show a judiciary ready to cleanse itself internally.
The mention of the head of the highest judicial authority served as a message to public opinion at a time of strong social and political doubts about the functioning of the system.
From an institutional perspective, Rosatti strengthened another sensitive axis: Specialization and training to treat complex causes, including those related to drug trafficking, money laundering, corruption and computer crimes such as child pornography. The court wants to clarify that Strengthening the system requires more resources, greater professionalization and institutional stabilityl, no disruptive reforms.
The tensions between the various actors became clearer when the chairman of the judges’ association, Andres Basso, spoke of one “crisis of credibility” and warned that there are factors aimed at “weakening the independence of the judiciary.”. He did this just before Cúneo Libarona Javier Mileis defended principles of austerity and called for moving forward with the transfer of the national judiciary to the city of Buenos Aires, an initiative that Basso had just rejected.
The conclusion of the night was left to the vice president of the court, Carlos Rosenkranzwho reaffirmed the concept of judicial impartiality and emphasized this Judges must be “law-abiding,” even when the political context pushes in the opposite direction. He also pointed out that the normalization of the system depends on the actions of the other branches of state, in line with the concerns expressed by Rosatti about the delays in appointments.
Overall, the event exposed a judiciary that seeks to restore legitimacy but also sets limits at a time of intense political conflict. Between demands for vacancies, warnings about the independence of the judiciary and an explicit message against any covert constitutional reform, the court made it clear that it has no intention of giving in to the dispute over institutional control of the justice system.
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