Supreme Court tensions: Horacio Rosatti criticises colleague Ricardo Lorenzetti
During the annual dinner of Poder Ciudadano, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court once again aimed at his colleague. Before over 400 people, Rosatti claimed that “there is a social demand for transparency”.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Horacio Rosatti has criticised his colleague and predecessor Ricardo Lorenzetti’s leadership of the nation’s highest tribunal, laying bare the disagreements between some of Argentina’s most powerful judicial leaders.
During an annual dinner organised by the Fundación Poder Ciudadano NGO, Rosatti launched some friendly fire at his fellow justice, describing Lorenzetti’s 11-year leadership of the Supreme Court as “single-person and super-concentrated.”
By contrast, he said the court – now under his direction – is now more “deliberative” in its actions.
The remarks feed into reports concerning tensions in the nation’s highest tribunal, which currently has only four of its five benches occupied.
President Javier Milei has nominated Federal Judge Ariel Lijo to fill the current vacancy, a move some analysts say could rebalance in Lorenzetti’s favour.
The internal criticism was aired before an audience of more than 400 judges, prosecutors, politicians and businesspeople at the Sheraton hotel.
Rosatti, who took over leadership of the Supreme Court in 2021, gave a speech warning about the dangers of “super-concentrated” power and its impact on administrative decision-making, contracts and tenders.
The 68-year-old argued that since April 2022, following the repeal of a law promulgated under former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina’s Supreme Court chief justice has also served as the head of the Council of Magistrates, the body that hires and fires judges.
That move, argued Rosatti, had ensured a better “articulation” of the court’s work, given the “social demand for transparency” that exists.
Today, continued the chief justice, a judge is “a public official under social scrutiny.”
Rosatti, who reminded those present that he was part of the Constitutional Reform Convention that introduced the 1994 reform, stressed the importance of “institutional quality,” as well as “the independence of the Judiciary, the division of powers, freedom of speech and access to public information.”
The chief justice also complained that the Supreme Court must deliver some 12,000 rulings per year at present – a workload he said was too heavy.
“There is no filter,” said Rosatti, along with an “excessive judicialisation of conflicts.”
– TIMES/PERFIL