On Wednesday (4), the President of Argentina, Alberto Fernandez, began the parliamentary process of a political trial against the Supreme Court of Justice for “misperformance of its duties,” in a new phase of the struggle between the government and the judiciary.
Fernandez took the first step by handing the impeachment bill to the chair of the ruling caucus in the House of Representatives, German Martinez, and to the chair of the impeachment committee, Carolina Gaillard, who asked for speed, and notified the government.
The ruling party, the center-left Front Todos, has the simple majority needed to open the investigation phase, but it lacks the two-thirds vote needed in the lower house and upper house to move forward with prosecution and remove the four justices from the highest court. Fifth place is vacant.
In any case, for an official meeting of the dismissal commission, it is necessary to hold extraordinary sessions, which are scheduled for next week.
The power struggle has intensified in recent weeks after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Buenos Aires city government in a dispute with Fernandez over the federal distribution of tax revenues.
Eleven of the 23 state governors supported the request for a political trial on Tuesday (3).
The head of state accused the Supreme Court of “arbitrarily invading exclusive domains and excluding the competence of other authorities” in the state. He also considered this a “political decision in the election year”, referring to the general elections in October, in which the mayor of Buenos Aires, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, is one of the candidates of the right-wing opposition.
In response, the mayor of the capital accused Fernandez of wanting to “break the constitutional order”. “Kirchnerism wants to transcend laws and change governance, which in a republic like ours is justice.”
The opposition alliance Together for Change, which includes the mayor, had already announced its rejection of the impeachment process.
Since the beginning of his term, in December 2019, Fernandez says he wants to reform the judiciary, especially the Supreme Court of Justice of the Argentine nation.
According to a survey conducted in mid-2022, more than 78% of Argentines have a “negative” or “very negative” opinion about the course of justice.
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