Nicolas Diana
08/02/2020 - 19:07
- Clarín.com
- Politics
The battle of the Government and Kirchnerism against the judges will add a new legislative chapter. In addition to the judicial reform that President Alberto Fernández sent to Congress, the Senate is preparing to begin the review of the transfers of 10 judges after the Judicial Council decided, on impulse K, that these processes were "incomplete" and that they needed an approval from the Upper House.
Among the magistrates, who are already preparing to fight in Justice, there are three who intervene directly in files where Cristina Kirchner is under investigation. They are the chambermaids Leopoldo Bruglia and Pablo Bertuzzi and the judge Germán Castelli, a member of the Federal Oral Court 7 who will judge the former president and other former officials in the case of the notebooks.
The vice president and president of the Senate count on the votes to decide on the fate of these three judges and seven others who will also be evaluated. The sheets to be reviewed require a simple majority.
Today, the Front of All, which Cristina directs with a firm hand, has 41 votes of its own in the Upper House, adding to that of José Alperovich, who today is on leave for the investigation opened in his face for alleged sexual abuse. There is nothing to suggest that the former president will guarantee that the chamber mates who ratified all the decisions of Judge Claudio Bonadio in the case of the notebooks remain firm in their positions.
To get to the Senate there are still a few steps. The Judicial Council must refer the cases of the 10 judges to the Ministry of Justice. This, in turn, elevate it to the President so that he sends them to Congress. In the Government they intend to speed up the matter and evaluate sending it this week. Although there could be delays: this Tuesday the debate in the Senate committees on judicial reform will begin with the virtual presence of the Minister of Justice, Marcela Losardo.
Once in the Upper House, the specifications will go to the Accords Commission, which is under Cristina Kirchner's control. It is chaired by the senator from Mendoza Anabel Fernández Sagasti, right hand of the vice-president and an ascending career within the ruling party.
But the fight to remove the transferred judges will not be easy . Several magistrates will go to Justice to restrain the decision of the Council of the Magistracy to review their transfers and they would even refuse to go back to the Agreement Commission to interview them. "In no way will I go to the Senate because I have already been approved by that commission," one of the 10 judges pointed out to Clarín .
Bruglia and Bertuzzi would advance on the amparos route, as Clarín anticipated . Thus, they would ask the Justice to freeze that decision while deciding on the merits, which is whether the Council of the Magistracy has competence to push for the annulment of those changes.
Other magistrates plan a presentation before a judge in the first instance Administrative Litigation. They evaluate that, eventually, the claim would go to the Chamber in administrative litigation and from there it could escalate to the Supreme Court to define. They are also evaluating a precautionary measure so that the advance of the Senate does not impede its normal performance in court.
How would the highest court rule if the claims got there? It is a real unknown. The truth is that in two agreed, the 4 and 7 of 2018, had already stipulated a framework for transfers. But today the Government and the highest court are experiencing a climate of tension after the President announced the creation of an expert advisory council to evaluate changes in the Court.
Despite everything, the Government refuses to be concerned about the possible judicial obstacles that the magistrates would promote due to the review of the transfers. "They are within their rights, if the agreement is rejected in the Senate they can go to court. Justice will decide who is right. But it must be made clear that the proposal that was made and that was approved by the Council of the Magistracy is not Personal or political, it is institutional. Those transferred judges are poorly appointed, "maintains an official source linked to the world of Justice.