BUENOS AIRES ( Associated Press) – An Argentine congressional committee began debating more than a dozen bills Thursday to impeach members of the Supreme Court promoted primarily by the ruling party.
Although the ruling party would not, in theory, vote enough to remove the magistrates, the process deepens a rift with the Supreme Court following a series of rulings against Alberto Fernandez’s government.
The Political Trial Commission of the Chamber of Deputies began processing 14 initiatives to remove judges Horacio Rosatti and Supreme Court President Carlos Rosencrantz, Juan Carlos Maqueda and Riccardo Lorenzetti.
One of the requests was promoted by the president himself, with the support of 11 pro-government governors, following a recent ruling by the Supreme Court that allowed the national state to transfer the total amount collected in taxes to the city of Buenos Aires. was forced to pay 2.95%—which is distributed among the 23 provinces and the capital—, compared to the 2.32% it received.
Although he agreed to abide by the ruling, the president saw it as a sign of the court’s bias in favor of the government of the capital led by Horacio Rodríguez Laretta, one of the main opposition leaders and with presidential aspirations in the October general elections. described in
The government also accused the court of interfering with the composition of the Council of Magistrates – which deals with the selection and removal of judges – to benefit the largest opposition force.
“We really believe that we are facing a situation of extreme institutional gravity and we are not saying this just because, we are facing a crisis in Argentine justice, about which there are really serious doubts, Warned deputy Germán Martínez, leader of the ruling bloc in the chamber short.
Change for Change, the main opposition party, announced it would not support the initiative, which it regards as an attempt at institutional subjugation aimed at saving Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who is facing six years in prison in late 2022. Was sentenced and permanent disqualification from holding public office for defrauding the state during his two terms as President (2007–2015).
An appeal can be made to the Supreme Court against this decision. The Vice President faces other legal cases for alleged corruption and illegal enrichment.
“Let’s call it a ‘political circus’ or whatever you want, but this is a commission (of impeachment) that was found after the President and the Vice President of the country tried to subvert two Supreme Court decisions,” warned the opponent. Juan Manuel Lopez.
The commission will take a few weeks to analyze the various orders and then issue an opinion. In this instance, the ruling party has enough votes to initiate an investigation of the magistrates, but not enough votes in Congress to complete their dismissal.
