The former minister of the Supreme Court, Eugenio Raúl Zaffaroni, was “alarmed” by “the institutional decadence” that Argentina exhibits, and considered that the highest court in the country “should be a serious appeal and be divided into specialized chambers.”
“There are structural defects in the institutionality of our judiciary at the normative level and we are in institutional decline. To function as a serious appeal, the Court should be divided into specialized chambers,” Zaffaroni told Radio Cooperativa.
Regarding the proposal to create an arbitrariness court below the Court, the jurist considered that it would not work and that the highest court will continue to be supreme based on what the Constitution establishes.
“The reality in which we move and that determines our conduct at all levels and is the result of what communication dictates. The single discourse of the media is the creation of a single reality, that is the issue”Eugenio Zaffaroni
“In comparative constitutional law, the Council of the Judiciary that works best is the Italian one and it is not what they created in the constitutional reform of 1994, which is an administrative body,” Zaffaroni said.
The lawyer also opened the debate on the place that ideologies occupy in power and argued that “in some way we have to have ideological definitions, not necessarily partisan, but ideological” since “it is what corresponds to a plural democracy”.
In addition, asked “what is the ideology” of the Supreme Court of Justice and affirmed that “accumulating power is not an ideology, it is simply wielding power.”
Regarding the proposal to create an arbitrariness court below the Court, the jurist considered that it would not work and that the highest court will continue to be supreme based on what the Constitution establishes
“How is impartiality achieved in the Judiciary? With debate, with communication with the people and with the people, this has to be reflected in the structure of the Judiciary and allow that pluralism,” he added.
Regarding the dynamics of the media, Zaffaroni criticized “their monopolistic nature” by maintaining that currently “they perform the function of political parties and are creators of reality.”
“The reality in which we move and that determines our conduct in all orders and is the result of what communication dictates. The single discourse of the media is the creation of a single reality, that is the issue,” he emphasized.
On the other hand, when asked about the moment that radicalism is going through, Zaffaroni said that “Today we are having a radical party that if (Raúl) Alfonsín rises up, he will die again” and judged that “there is an ideological decadence and a loss of identities that weaken politics and favor anti-politics.”