The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation is the Olympus of the Judicial Power. There live the supreme magistrates who are in charge of interpreting the National Constitution, and declaring unconstitutional those norms that violate it. It is not for nothing that we constitutional law professors say that the Court is the guardian of the National Constitution, and that this is what the Court says it is.
Such a task cannot be entrusted to mediocre judges, with dubious academic, professional and ethical reputation. There must be qualified, upright magistrates endowed with a solid spirit of republican independence.
As provided by our Supreme Law, the responsibility of electing these judges corresponds to the president of the Nation and the senators. In effect: the first president nominates a candidate, sends his proposal or document to the Senate, and it gives its agreement with two-thirds of those present. Finally, the President proceeds to issue the appointment decree. From there the designated judge becomes immovable.
Choosing a judge for the Court also requires a high degree of republican responsibility, and a precise understanding of how relevant the role of the highest court is. Well, the President who chooses a Court judge well is the one who then delights in his independence, or the one who then “suffers” it firsthand.
President Milei came to government almost six months ago, and found himself before a Court with an effective vacancy (the one generated by the resignation of Elena Highton, in November 2021), and with another potential one, which will occur in December of this year. year, when one of the current magistrates (Roberto Maqueda), leaves his position when he reaches seventy-five years of age. It means that Milei has the possibility of filling two vacancies. For this he has proposed federal judge Ariel Lijo and professor Manuel García Mansilla.
At the outset, it is worth pointing out that although there is no rule that establishes a female quota for the integration of the Supreme Court, in a court in which there have been and are many men, it would be prudent to appoint a female judge. Well, this detail matters little to the president, because it is not prudence that characterizes him; but he also does not seem to care about other more relevant ones, since otherwise he would not have nominated Ariel Lijo to fill Elena Highton’s vacancy.
Milei has justified his nomination by highlighting the seniority of the proposed candidate in Justice, and therefore the knowledge he has of it. It is true: Ariel Lijo has extensive experience as a federal judge in criminal and correctional matters, but that requirement is far from being sufficient to join the highest court.
This also requires background that demonstrates moral integrity, proven aptitude for republican independence when administering justice, and academic or doctrinal background. Well, they do not seem to be requirements that the candidate proposed by the President will find easy to fulfill.
In the academic field, the teaching position that Lijo holds or held at the Faculty of Law of the UBA – professor of criminal law – was not achieved through the corresponding opposition and background competition. It is the same teaching situation that former President Alberto Fernández has, in the same university and in the same subject. Lijo has not ventured into the field of doctrine either and it is not easy to find his publications on topics of his specialty.
His professional suitability is also in doubt. An audit carried out in the Lijo court, by the Judicial Council, has revealed unjustifiable delays in the processing of judicial files under its charge, in which flagrant acts of corruption of officials were investigated.
This added to the questions that, regarding the character in question, have been formulated by professional organizations such as the Forum for Studies on the Administration of Justice, the Bar Association of the city of Buenos Aires, Poder Ciudadano, Sera Justicia and the National Academy of Law , among others.
Furthermore, it is highly doubtful that the nominated candidate is endowed with the spirit of republican independence that such a position requires. In fact, it is public knowledge that his brother is one of the best-known political operators in the court environment, and the links that unite him with some exponents of the Cámpora, with De Vido, Etchegaray, among others, are known. .
It is inexplicable that the president of the Nation, who got tired of ranting against the political class, disparagingly describing it as “the caste”, proposes as a judge of the Court someone who, due to the number of complaints that have been made about him (arbitrary delays in investigations into cases of corruption, illicit enrichment, money laundering, bribes and influence peddling), constitutes one of the most faithful exponents of the “caste”, but in the judicial field.
Weeks ago the President began an event at Luna Park singing the song “Panic Show” by La Renga. That he does it within the framework of a “spectacle” is understandable, but that he takes that “panic” to the Supreme Court is republicanly unacceptable.
Now it’s time for the Senate. It is up to him to prevent an undesirable judge from being “inoculated” within the highest court; Because in short, if what it is about is that there are judges in the Court who are a “luxury”, what becomes essential, in the current situation, is to prevent “Lijo” from joining it.
