For officials of the Buenos Aires Executive, the first step towards paving the way for filling the vacancies that exist in the Supreme Court was taken in the last session of the Senate when 46 specifications were approved for the appointment of judges and prosecutors.
Close to Axel Kicillof, they maintain that the OK still remains for another round of appointments that, they believe, could come out shortly. Then formal negotiation would begin to complete the structure of officials of the high court.
In the last hours the issue returned to the scene with the acceptance of the resignation of Luis Genoud as minister of the Buenos Aires Court to take advantage of retirement benefits. With this departure, there are now four vacancies, since Eduardo De Lázzari and Eduardo Pettigiani had previously retired. They joined the death of the senior minister, Héctor Negri.
The ministers who remained in office are Sergio Torres, Daniel Soria and Hilda Kogan. And since the original members must be seven, the president of the Court of Cassation, Florencia Budiño, was permanently incorporated to have a number of members that allows the Court to function.
The dance of names to fill vacancies is extensive. But first, Governor Axel Kicillof must resolve two issues. The first, if he will send documents to cover all or some of the charges. And secondly, how he will distribute them among the different political sectors so that each of them formulates his proposals.
One of the few certainties that exists is that the Governor intends that, if there are four proposals that are finally agreed upon, two will correspond to female candidates. Sectors of Buenos Aires radicalism travel the same path. In fact, in the last few hours several national and provincial legislators gathered on the steps of the high court building to raise that flag.
In the case of the UCR, there are women’s names on the list. But also, from male candidates. The proliferation has to do with the certainty that the radicals have that at least one of the candidates will be proposed by the centenary party.
Sectors of the UCR push the name of a chambermaid from La Plata to reach the Court
One of the names in dance is Marina Sánchez Herrero. Current councilor of Mar del Plata, she was a member of the Judicial Council and is the wife of the president of the Provincial Committee, Maximiliano Abad.
It’s not the only one. In the last hours, other party sectors came out to push the candidacy of Claudia Milanta from La Plata, president of the Chamber of Appeals for Administrative Litigation of La Plata and member of the Buenos Aires Electoral Board.
The name of the former counselor of the Judiciary, Miguel Piedecasas, also appears in the radical bolillero. Like Carlos Balbín, who was Treasury Attorney during the government of Mauricio Macri.
In the case of the PRO, since before the end of the year, the version that Andrés Soto, judge of the Civil and Commercial Court of Appeal of La Plata, would be promoted.
That name arose when the PRO did not face the internal conflict between Mauricio Macri and Patricia Bullrich. It is not clear now whether the majority of that party pushes that nomination.
There is a possible scenario that this newspaper already mentioned and that could change the panorama of the global negotiation: that the current Attorney General, Julio Conte Grand, could be promoted to join the Court.
Conte Grand arrived at that strategic position during the government of María Eugenia Vidal, replacing María del Carmen Falbo. As soon as he took office, Axel Kicillof tried to displace him, but all attempts ended up being shipwrecked.
Now there are versions in the sense that some sector of the PRO could endorse this movement, perhaps, with the wink of the sector of the ruling party, who could thus stay with the Attorney General’s Office. For now, this alternative continues to have version status, although it is very widespread in Buenos Aires political spheres.
If it comes to fruition, there are those who say that Kicillof could promote his own name or give it to one of the other two important actors in the official party: Cristina Kirchner and Sergio Massa.
In the midst of these movements, the name that is most firmly mentioned for the Court since Kirchnerism is that of the CONICET researcher, Marisa Herrera, sister of the dancer Paloma Herrera, very close to the former president.
Kicillof wants half of the vacancies to be filled by women
In the last few hours, the name of La Plata judge Claudio Bernard also began to emerge.
First, Kicillof will have to balance his own internal government. Near Massa they are also demanding a place and there is speculation that the Governor will push his own candidate.
These needs may end up adjusting to the PRO, if the aforementioned movement involving Conte Grand does not materialize. The party founded by Macri promoted the current minister Sergio Torres during Vidal’s government, the last one to join the highest court of justice of the Province.
In the midst of all these movements, Kicillof has another position to offer: that of Deputy Attorney General. A space that was vacant not so long ago after the retirement of Juan Angel de Oliveira.
