Argentine group sues to block 14 judicial nominations over alleged unconstitutional selection

An Argentine civil association, the Civil Association for Equality and Justice (ACIJ), has taken legal action to challenge the executive branch's selection of 14 judicial nominees. The organization argues that President Javier Milei's administration unconstitutionally mixed candidates from different "ternas" – pools of three candidates – when sending nominations to the Senate.

ACIJ contends that this practice violates Article 99, Section 4 of the National Constitution, which mandates that the president propose judges based on a "binding proposal in a pool of three" from the Council of the Magistracy. The association's executive director, Celeste Fernández, explained that the executive is obligated to select one candidate from each "terna." By combining names from multiple pools, the administration allegedly discards some "ternas" entirely, thereby undermining the constitutional process and the equal rights of candidates.

The lawsuit, filed with federal administrative judge Esteban Furnari, requests a preliminary injunction to halt the Senate's proceedings on these nominations. It also seeks a declaration of unconstitutionality and absolute nullity for the contested nominations. ACIJ demands that the executive branch withdraw the current proposals and submit new ones that strictly follow the constitutional procedure, ensuring one candidate is chosen from each "terna."

The challenged nominations cover nine different judicial contests for civil, commercial, criminal, administrative, and federal courts in Comodoro Rivadavia. While a regulatory norm of the Council of the Magistracy permits this practice, ACIJ argues that this regulation itself is unconstitutional.