Magistrates, academics and a lawyer form a “center” block within the Judicial Council to bring it out of paralysis

Since last year, a group of members of the National Judicial Council He organizes talks and meetings to advance an idea: to form a new bloc within the body that has enough power to force “politics” to unblock the paralysis in which the body in charge of the prosecutions and the selection of national judges. and federal, and the administration of the judiciary.

They define it as a “institutional bloc” oh “technician”, oh “In the center”, who approach it with a more political eye. Talks are advanced for this sector to be integrated by the four judges of the Board, the two representatives of the academics there one of the lawyersaccording to the information he has gathered GlobeLiveMedia in talks with four members of the body. And they intend that Horace RosattiPresident of the Council and of the Supreme Court of Justice, associates himself, certainly not explicitly, but with his support.

This bloc would consist of seven members. A number which is not enough to approve the stakes of the organization but which is would be the majority against the six from the ruling party and the five from the opposition. It remains to define a chair that corresponds to the Senate. The Supreme Court has already vetoed a senator from the ruling party.

“The objective is to force politics to sit down and negotiate. Negotiate with one or the other of the two sectors and if not denounce them because they hinder the functioning of the Council”cleared one of the advisers who works in the negotiations.

But before managing to sit in plenary session of the Council with this force, there are preliminary instances. “Some have to start giving in”, said an adviser defiantly. The reference is that first the members of the five commissions of the organization, their presidents and the vice-president of Rosatti must be elected. There are also talks about this but there is still no agreement, especially in this sector which is looking for a common bloc. “If we reach an agreement on this step, we can think of an institutional block”add.

The Council should have started working with its new members last November. But it was not achieved due to political struggles between the Frente de Todos and Juntos por el Cambio for one of the seats that corresponds to the Senate. To this was added another dispute about a seat of deputies. Everything is legal.

In addition, the government criticizes the Supreme Court in general and Rosatti in particular for the joint participation decision in favor of the city of Buenos Aires and for the resolution which declared unconstitutional the previous integration of 13 members of the Council and imposed the current 20 This is part of the political trial that the ruling party has initiated against the four judges of the highest court. The climate is rarefied with the escape of illegal conversations between Silvio Roblesspokesperson for Rosatti, and Marcelo D´Alessandro, Minister of Justice and Security of Buenos Aires on leave. That they add to those who met the minister on Friday with the federal judge Sebastian Ramoswho filed a complaint against Robles and who testified Thursday before the Political Trial Commission of Deputies.

And as if that were not enough, the permanent political struggle between the ruling party and the opposition for justice is also present, also one year before the presidential elections.

All this has an impact on the functioning of the Council. The last time the body held a full meeting was in June of last year. They have not met for more than six months due to political tensions. For example, 2022 has been one of the worst years in terms of public competitions to fill vacancies for judges: approved only 10. They managed to unblock with the arrival of Rosatti to the presidency in April but then they stagnated. The worst year had been 2021 where only 5 competitions had been approved. And the Council is able to process 84 competitions which have already been completed. The vacancy rate in the judiciary is 24%.

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It is in this context that a group of advisers seeks to form a bloc to try to get out of the paralysis. Everything when the Council is reactivated because it is not yet complete. Senators will be sworn in on Tuesday Mary Agnes Pilatti Vergara, Mariano Recalde (in front of everyone) and Edouard Vischi (of the Radical Civic Union). There will be 19. There is still one left.

This block will be composed of the judges Diego Barroetaveña, Agustina Diaz Cordero, Alberto Lugones and Alejandra Provitola; by academic representatives Hugo Galderisi and William Tamarit; and the lawyer Maria Fernanda Vazquez.

The last three came to the Council in an electoral assembly which made Diego Molea, former member of the Council, who is part of the negotiations and who will continue to weigh in on the proceedings. Molea was an ally of the ruling party and with the arrival of Rosatti in the Council he sought to generate other spaces.

Judges will also move away from political blocs. Lugones was a member of the ruling party and made known his displeasure that the government did not comply with the appointment of judges to his space, the Heavenly List. For their part, Barroetaveña and Díaz Cordero – from the Bordó List – and Provítola – from Compromiso Judicial – come from spaces referenced in the opposition.

This block, in the majority against the politicians, will seek to have the representatives of the Frente de Todos and Juntos por el Cambio sit down to negotiate. “With one or the other. If they are both better”, raised a counselor. They know that on hot topics it will be difficult. Especially in competitions to fill vacancies in the courts of Comodoro Py. “We are removing this from any agenda because it will be difficult”, recognizes another adviser. But yes, the emergencies of the daily management of the courts.

“What if politics doesn’t sit down to negotiate and everything continues to get bogged down?” asked this medium. “We are going to expose them. And if we come to agreements with one sector, the other is going to be out of the game and maybe then we can count on both.”replied an adviser.

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Negotiation will not be easy because political blocs have their individuals. The Frente de Todos party is compact: they all respond to Vice-President Cristina Kirchner. It is made up of Senators Recalde and Pilatti Vergara – who will be sworn in on Tuesday and were on the Council for the previous term; MPs Vanessa Siley there Rodolfo Tailhade -one of the most critical public swords of the Supreme Court and Rosatti-; the representative of the executive Geronimo Ustarroz -adoptive brother of the Minister of the Interior, Edward “Wado” by Peter-; and the lawyer Hector Recaldesenator’s father.

It’s very different from what happens in Together for Change. Their representatives have different political terminals there. Senator Vischi responds to the radical governor of Corrientes, Gustavo Valdes; the lawyer Miguel Piedecasas and the deputy Roxana Reyes to the leaders of the national UCR Gerard Morales there Mario Negri; lawyer Jimena de la Torre at Mauricio Macri; and the deputy alvaro gonzalez A Horace Rodriguez Larreta.

In these divergences it is the same intern of Ensemble for the presidential candidatures. The tokens that will move within the Council will be subject to these fluctuations. Everything impacts the Council.

The main fight between the ruling party and the opposition in the Council is over Comodoro Py. The main objective of the Frente de Todos is to approve competitions to fill vacancies, mainly places in the Federal Chamber of Leopoldo Bruglia and Pablo Bertuzzi, transferred under the Macri government. And Together for Change, with their votes, blocks this possibility. Everything else depends on that.

“Easy to hard, that’s the way to go,” they offer in the new block. “It is not possible that some important vacancies at Comodoro Py block all national competitions. You have to separate the goals,” he added.

The new bloc will have seven members. In the Council, a simple majority – 11 votes – is required to approve management matters and a special majority – 14 votes – to approve judging contests and impeachment charges. In itself, this sector does not have them, but if it reaches agreements with the party in power or the opposition, it will reach them.

But for that, the Council must activate itself. With the swearing in of the three senators on Tuesday, the body will have 19 members. Is there one missing. The Supreme Court refused to take the oath of Senator Kirchnerist Make a donation, proposed to continue in the body. The highest court confirmed last year’s decision in which it decided to remove Doñate from the Council because he had come with the division of the pro-government bloc in the Senate to keep a place when it corresponded to another sector from the room.

This place is claimed by the PRO and applied to Louis Judge. The Cordovan senator has taken legal action to be appointed to the Council. The case is before the Supreme Court awaiting a definition. There the Senate challenged Rossati to intervene and last Thursday he expanded it and also demanded that they step down from the cause. Juan Carlos Maqueda there Carlos Rosenkrantz. There is another before the Federal Chamber of Administrative Litigation in which the judge asked this week that the case be resolved by his “institutional gravity”.

But until all 20 advisers are there, no one is betting that he will get going, beyond some speculation that he might work with 19 and with initiatives within the body that are under discussion in this regard. And no one dares to venture out either when they’ll all be there. When this happens, a new stage will open.

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