Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei has said he will bypass the country’s senate to appoint two supreme court justice nominees by decree, in a move that risks inflaming political opposition to his government.
Milei’s office said on Monday it would fill two vacant seats in the five-judge court by exercising a clause in Argentina’s constitution enabling the president to temporarily fill roles during congressional recesses that normally require senate approval.
Argentina’s congress is in recess and due to restart regular sessions from Saturday. The terms of the constitutional clause mean the two appointees will be in place until senate sessions conclude at the end of November.
The government had failed during earlier senate sessions to secure the two-thirds majority of votes required to confirm the two candidates, federal judge Ariel Lijo and law professor Manuel García-Mansilla, whom Milei first proposed in early 2024.
Lijo’s nomination has proved controversial, with centrist parties accusing him of abusing judicial power, including by stalling corruption cases assigned to him — charges he has denied.
The leftwing Peronist bloc opposes Mansilla, who is known for his conservative positions on issues such as abortion.
Milei accused senators of improperly “politicising” the confirmation process by acting on “personal or political preferences”, adding that his government would continue negotiations to win congressional approval for the appointments.
The move is likely to trigger legal and political challenges, said Bernardo Saravia Frías, a former attorney-general in a centre-right government.
“It is clearly unconstitutional,” he said. “I can’t see how this doesn’t end in a big mess for the government.”
The Peronist bloc, which controls almost half the seats in the senate, had pledged last year to vote down any appointments made by decree — a move that could create a constitutional crisis — though it has yet to confirm whether it will do so.
Analysts said Milei was keen to add appointees to the supreme court who might rule favourably on challenges to his libertarian reform agenda. The president has pushed executive power to its limits to get around his tiny minority in congress.
“The government understands that it needs a justice system that doesn’t put too many blocks in the road,” said Lucas Romero, director of Synopsis political consultancy.
He added that the announcement might also be an effort to move the political conversation on from a damaging scandal this month involving Milei’s promotion of a possible cryptocurrency fraud — the largest crisis in his 14-month-old administration.
But the strategy would probably strain relationships with centrist parties and could end in a congressional defeat, said Juan Negri, a politics professor at Buenos Aires’ Torcuato di Tella university.
“The government may welcome that, framing it as them fighting against a [corrupt] political system,” he added. “But it feels clumsy. I’m not sure it’s a risk worth taking this time.”