This Monday, in a plenary meeting, the 13 members of the Judicial Council will define how the election of lawyers will be carried out, the last item that was missing to finish adapting to the ruling of the Supreme Court that ordered a return to the previous conformation -with 20 councilors- to the reform that Cristina Kirchner devised in 2006.
From 10.30 in the morning they will put under discussion a 15-page regulation that stipulates that the elections to define the new representatives of the lawyers will be held before April 6 and that vacancies will be filled by two women, since the current members of the lawyers are men, Diego Marías and Carlos Matterson.
According to the Court ruling that declared the reform of the Council unconstitutional, the Judiciary has until April 15 to adapt to the old conformation. If you don’t, all your decisions will be declared null and void and the body that chooses and sanctions judges will be paralyzed.
The choice of lawyers appeared to be the most complex. In the last meeting of the Council they had defined how the new member will be chosen to represent the judges and it was pending how they would do with the lawyers. The elections are difficult to carry out since the lists must be assembled, the lists refined, the provisional and final counts organized and dates set for each group to present their candidates, among other points.
The President of the Supreme Court Horacio Rosatti.
Last Thursday, in a work meeting, the councilors for the ruling party and the opposition debated the regulation. The meeting lasted three hours and despite pressure from the Public Bar Association of the Federal Capital, which asked to extend the elections beyond April 15 - it maintains that they do not hold the elections - they agreed to hold the elections on April 6.
“Everything indicates that the meeting will be quick because we have already defined how the election will be held and the regulations have been agreed upon,” said one of the members of the Council.
Following the Court’s ruling, the Council decided to suspend the judicial fair in order to speed up compliance with the ruling. But in parallel, the possibility of Congress passing a new law on the Council of the Judiciary is advancing.
The highest court, when it declared the unconstitutionality of the formation of the body, asked Congress to issue new regulations in a reasonable time.
in the concrete facts there are already four projects presented. One from the ruling party, another from the counselor and deputy Pablo Tonelli, a third from the counselor and lawyer Diego Marías and the last promoted by the radical deputy Mario Negri.
In principle, the Government would seek to have it discussed in the extraordinary sessions that would start in February. The official project raises the representatives of the Council from 13 to 17 and leaves the Supreme Court without representation in the body, a key point for the ruling party that wants nothing to do with Horacio Rosatti, president of the Court, managing the Magistracy.
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