Milei advances on the Judiciary: 28 judges and prosecutors appointed by decree in one day

President Javier Milei continues his advance on the Judiciary, outsourced to Justice Minister Juan Bautista Mahiques. This Wednesday, the head of state officially appointed 28 judges and prosecutors, many in key positions, by publishing their appointments by decree in the Official Gazette. The Senate Agreement Committee has already scheduled the processing of another 25 nominations for August 4 and 5.

This wave of appointments adds to dozens already made days earlier, including Emilio Rosatti, son of Supreme Court President Horacio Rosatti, and Ana Juan, wife of Judge Marcelo Martínez de Giorgi, who is handling the $LIBRA case in which Milei is implicated. The former was appointed on June 12 as judge of the Federal Trial Court of Santa Fe; the latter on July 15 as federal judge of Hurlingham.

This Wednesday was the turn of five labor appeals judges, including the wife of TN journalist Adrián Ventura. They join Víctor Pesino, whose stay in the Labor Appeals Chamber was extended by Milei one day earlier, on Tuesday. Pesino was about to retire and, after approving the labor reform, was proposed by the Executive to stay for five more years, endorsed by the Senate. Thus, Milei appointed six labor appeals judges in two days.

In the batch of 28 appointments, Juan Tomás Rodríguez Ponte, longtime secretary of Ariel Lijo, also stands out; he took charge of Federal Court No. 2 of Lomas de Zamora, where the high-profile Insaurralde-Cirio case is being processed. There are also various judges and prosecutors from the interior, reflecting the Executive’s negotiation with governors.

The takeover of the courts does not end here. On August 4 and 5, the Senate Agreement Committee will process the nominations of another 25 candidates for judicial positions. The Executive is expected to send more nominations to cover 25% of vacancies in the Judiciary, including key courts and chambers of Comodoro Py.

This Wednesday, 28 appointments were published in the Official Gazette. Among the appointments, the advance of Milei and Mahiques on the National Chamber of Appeals for Labor is exposed. The Executive’s strategy is to appoint friendly judges while awaiting the dissolution of the labor court system, ordered in the Labor Reform and the agreement to transfer the Justice system to the Buenos Aires city orbit. Including magistrates who answer to them in courts they intend to eliminate has one objective: to shield the anti-worker legislation while the National Labor Justice exists, whose annihilation will take years.

The emblematic case is that of Víctor Pesino, rewarded for ruling in favor of the labor reform. Just 24 hours after overturning a ruling that halted the application of the Labor Modernization Law, the government proposed that he continue for five more years. That extension was formalized this Tuesday with the decree signed by Milei and Mahiques.

In Wednesday’s batch, the appointment of Javier Cosentino to the National Chamber of Appeals for Commercial Matters also stands out, as well as many judges and prosecutors from the interior, interpreted as gestures toward governors and part of broader negotiations. They include federal oral courts in Tucumán and Posadas, a federal court in San Juan, and prosecutor’s offices in Corrientes, Chaco, Mendoza, among others.

The Senate Agreement Committee will process on August 4 and 5 the nominations of 25 candidates for judges, prosecutors, and public defenders. There will be a public hearing, and if approved, they will be sent to the floor. The ruling party needs only a simple majority to approve them. In this batch, interior positions again prevail, reflecting the channel Mahiques opened with governors.

Among the nominations, public defenders for Formosa, Santiago del Estero, La Rioja, and the Federal Chamber of Criminal Cassation stand out; a federal prosecutor for Gualeguaychú; and magistrates for national courts, federal courts, and appeals chambers. Also notable is the agreement to appoint Matilde Evangelina Ballerini to the National Chamber of Appeals for Commercial Matters.

The government is also about to fill two vacancies in the strategic Federal Chamber of Buenos Aires, the reviewing court of Comodoro Py, and created a third by retiring Martín Irurzun. It has already sent the nominations of its candidates to the Senate: Pablo Yadarola and Pablo Bertuzzi. Yadarola is a judge in economic criminal matters and participated in the trip to Lago Escondido financed by executives of Grupo Clarín, in which Mahiques also participated. Bertuzzi is one of those who was supposed to be replaced but competed to stay. If the Senate approves both nominations, they can remain until age 75 and intervene in the $LIBRA case, which is being processed in Chamber I, where they would arrive.