Harsh reaction to the President's idea of ​​limiting the positions of judges

08/01/2021 4:59 PM

• Clarín.com

• Politics

Updated 08/01/2021 4:59 PM

The surprise offensive on Justice that President Alberto Fernández deployed generated a harsh reaction from the Justice and the opposition.

On Saturday, in a virtual meeting with law students, Fernández proposed to discuss the time in which the judges remain in their positions.

According to the President, a judge appointed for 10 years "after 10 years must revalidate his condition."

Until now,

the principle of immobility of judges governs

who can remain in office - once they win their contests - until the age of 75 unless they are removed by impeachment.

From the opposition they were very tough with the president's proposal.

"The President's proposal is totally alien to our institutional system and our traditions. Besides being a very rare innovation, it would require a constitutional reform because the Constitution says that judges keep their jobs for the duration of their good conduct, that is, they are for life or until they reach the age of 75, "

PRO deputy

Pablo Tonelli told

Clarín

.

Tonelli, who is also a representative of the Council of the Magistracy, where the magistrates are elected and sanctioned, added: "It is of no use.

Rather, it makes me think of the ever-present or latent intentions of the Government

of wanting to conquer and have a Justice rigged and made up of judges who respond to it and who are not independent. "

Along the same lines, the deputy and

head of the Civic Coalition's bloc of legislators, Juan Manuel López,

came out to question the President

.

“The President no longer knows what to do so that there is no Justice.

It no longer matters if the law professor says it as brute, authoritarian or submissive, he says it and wants to do it, "he said.

There were also reactions from the judicial level.

This Sunday, from the Association of Magistrates and Judicial Officials chaired by Marcelo Gallo Tagle, they were on alert for the words of Fernández and prepared a statement condemning the position of the President who would come out this Monday.

Constitutionalist

Daniel Sabsay

was another of those who questioned the President.

From his Twitter account, he argued that the president "has lied or ignores the Constitution"

by stating that by law the term of judges can be shortened to 10 years.

"These remain in their functions as long as their good behavior lasts, at 75 they require a new agreement from the Senate. Chicaneo and barbarity," he added.

Constitutional law professor Felix Lonigro was extremely tough.

"He is ignorant", was dispatched on the networks about Fernández and his proposal. "Mr. President, 'lawyer': if the Constitution provides that judges remain in office for as long as their good conduct lasts,

you cannot set a time limit for them by law, because it would be unconstitutional," he argued.

PRO deputy Waldo Wolff also joined in the questions. "Beyond questioning the Constitutionality of his proposal, the intangibility of the judges is guaranteed so that they have independence. In the Council of the Magistracy there are already mechanisms to remove them if they fail to fulfill their functions. There are trade unionists who have been 30 and 40 years ago. they are in their positions and feudal governors like Gildo Insfrán who more than 20. The president should worry about that, "said Wolff.

The PRO deputy for Santa Fe and candidate for Senator Federico Angelini

also joined in the criticism and pointed to the role of Vice President Cristina Kirchner. "The President fulfills the mandates of his vice to try to influence the Judiciary and continue with the impunity plan for Cristina Fernández. The obsession of Kirchnerism with managing Justice is such that during the current government it became its highest priority, above the management of security, economic activity, health and education, which are the main concerns of the people, "it was dispatched.

The President's words that opened the debate on the duration of the office of the judges were delivered in a virtual meeting with law students last Saturday.

"Does the Prosecutor have a lifetime position or should it last for a while? And we should ask the same question regarding the judges.

Because in truth, I shouldn't say it because I know that I am going to open a controversy, but I am speaking with law students and the the best way to teach is to sow doubts, "he said.

After that statement, he maintained his main idea that generated a stir.

"Now, just as we can say that the Procurator must last in his mandate X number of years and then he must renew his appointment, the same can be said of the judges.

One can say that a judge is appointed for 10 years and after 10 years he will have to revalidate his status as judge, "he added.

Since the President took office, the Government redoubled the pressure on the Justice.

He promoted the judicial reform - until now paralyzed - and seeks to modify the Law of the Public Prosecutor's Office to displace the acting attorney Eduardo Casal and appoint one of his own.

In addition, with pressure from Kirchnerism, he managed to oust the Minister of Justice Marcela Losardo - a friend of the President - and appoint his replacement Martín Soria.

Even the vice president managed to improve her judicial situation.

He recovered his embargoed companies, turned the cause of the Future Dollar and seeks to do the same with the record of the Pact with Iran.

Look also

Alberto Fernández: "Why can't the duration of the judges in their functions be put to an end?"