Fernández Presents Reform to Overcome Alleged Politicization of Argentine Courts

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Alberto Fernández used the White Room of the Government House, a large French-style area reserved for grand ceremonies, to present an ambitious reform of the Argentine judicial system. The bill, to be forwarded to Congress this week, is aimed primarily at fighting the accumulated power of federal judges in charge of anti-corruption measures, as well as crimes such as drug trafficking and terrorism.

Fernández believes that the 12 current members of the capital’s Federal Regional Court have “politicized” and ceded their independence to the power at the time. Should the bill prosper, the number of judges in this court will grow to 46 as a result of its merger with other Courts. The opposition claims that the bill’s sole purpose is to shield vice-president Cristina Kirchner from the lawsuits she is facing for alleged corruption crimes.

Justice is not well regarded in Argentina. Fernández, a professional attorney and law professor at Buenos Aires University, ascribes most of the damage to the federal court judges at Comodoro Py Avenue, who are in charge of judging political corruption cases. There are only 12 of them, and their power is tremendous. In their offices, they handle the lawsuits against Cristina Kirchner and other former high-ranking officials in her government. They also deal with lawsuits that former President Mauricio Macri and some ex-Ministers have been facing in recent times.

For Fernández, the judges in this body have been acting in accordance with the political trend of the time at Casa Rosada for years. He said that the new bill “seeks to overcome the fact that decision-making power is concentrated in a small number of magistrates who have the power to decide on all causes with institutional and consequently media relevance”. This concentration of high-impact causes in such few hands “has been decisive for this forum to have become politicized,” said the Argentine president.

Along with the merger of courts, the bill establishes an advisory board of 11 jurists that will provide the Executive with advice on other structural changes in the legal system. Its non-binding proposals could be turned into legislative bills. The board has among its members critical members of the government, but also Cristina Kirchner’s attorney, and has raised the alarm among the Macrist opposition.

In the week prior to Wednesday’s presentation, the Argentine press alleged there was a commission bill to raise the number of Supreme Court justices from five to nine, a reform that could open the door to a majority in tune with current officialdom. The government rejects this. “People hear about ‘Court’ and they believe we’re going after the Court. It’s not like that. Everything that this commission will do, which is very plural, will be over structural issues,” says Justice Minister Marcela Losardo, shortly after the bill was presented in the Casa Rosada.

Losardo also stressed the need for changes in the federal court, where “we have a legal action, like the terrorist attack against [the Jewish entity] AMIA with no results for 26 years.” The delay, she said, “is often due to the fact that justice has been watching and waiting for what the [executive] power says. Courts need to stand apart from these political, corporate, media, and business pressures.”

The opposition has already said it will reject the bill. It sees the hand of Cristina Kirchner behind it, eager to put an end to the federal judges who investigate her. “This is not the bill that would suit Cristina, because she will continue to be tried by the same judges. The bill respects the original judge of all cases. I don’t see where that can benefit Cristina,” reacts Losardo.

Macrism has joined the suspicions of a strike against the Supreme Court, where the requests for procedural annulment brought by the ex-president’s attorneys are being processed.

In a document bearing the signature of ex-president Mauricio Macri and other party officials, the opposition also said that the structural reform of the judiciary is not a pressing issue for a society “concerned with anxieties and glaring shortcomings in economic, social and safety matters,” resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Regarding the Court, it cautioned that “stability within the highest court is a value in itself, which safeguards the independence of the Judiciary.”

The Executive’s bill will reach Congress this week through the Senate, where the Government holds a majority. The votes in the Lower House are not guaranteed. Macrism has promised to fight.

Source: El País