The Buenos Aires Bar Association filed a formal claim for the filling of the four vacancies that have decimated the Buenos Aires Supreme Court. In a public statement, the entity described the situation as an "unprecedented disintegration" and warned that the province's highest court currently operates with only three of its seven members, seriously compromising the justice system.
The Bar Association's pronouncement came at the start of the judicial recess and in a context where the process to fill the vacancies is completely stalled. The entity recalled that Article 146 of the Provincial Constitution establishes a fifteen-day deadline from the occurrence of a vacancy to present candidates, but some positions have remained unfilled for years. "The filling of vacancies is not a discretionary power; it is a constitutional duty that cannot be left to political strategies or partisan conveniences," the Bar Association emphasized.
The claim adds to the one made by the Supreme Court itself in late April, when it presented a bill to obtain financial autonomy and demanded that Governor Axel Kicillof and the Legislature move forward with the appointment of new ministers. At that time, the president of the court, Sergio Torres, had stated that the Court is in a state of "unprecedented disintegration."
The delay in filling the vacancies is due to the deepening internal conflict within Buenos Aires Peronism. By the end of 2025, the ruling party had agreed with opposition sectors on a distribution scheme that contemplated the allocation of four seats: one for Kicillof, one for Kirchnerism, a third for Massism, and the fourth for the UCR. However, the negotiation never materialized and time passed without progress.
In recent weeks, sources close to the provincial government indicated that it is no longer ruled out that the vacancy intended for the radical party could ultimately be filled by a name aligned with La Libertad Avanza. Those close to Kicillof maintain that it will be the governor who defines the timing and that the official intention would be to resume negotiations in the coming months so that the appointments are finalized during the first quarter of 2027.
The Bar Association insisted that the "deliberate and sustained weakening" of the Judicial Branch organs has a direct impact on legal certainty, effective judicial protection, and citizens' trust in the Justice system. What should be an institutional emergency addressed without delay, the entity warned, has become a "state of affairs tolerated and dangerously naturalized."
