The Bar Association of the City warned about alterations in the merit order of judicial competitions

The Buenos Aires City Bar Association warned that judges "whose suitability is seriously questioned due to irregularities verified in the competitions" of the Judicial Council are about to be appointed. The entity took as a reference a survey by the specialized associations ACIJ and INECIP and noted that, in the most extreme case, there was a "difference of 32 places between the first merit position and the last." This is the case of Juan Manuel Gaset Maisonave, secretary of a federal oral court prosecutor's office, proposed for the Federal Oral Court No. 5 of San Martín (competition 421). The jump was enough for him to enter third in the shortlist. Behind him was José Miguel Guerrero, former national director of the National Reincidence Registry, a candidate for a national criminal and correctional court (competition 417), who advanced 27 places and also entered third in his shortlist. The Board of the Bar Association pointed to the mechanism that, in their opinion, explains much of these reordering in the personal interview scheduled in the competition, which is not assigned a specific score nor a quantitative limit on its impact on the merit order arising from the exam and background. Its result, the entity argues, "can thus significantly alter the candidates' positions based on necessarily more subjective criteria." And they added a fact that illustrates the disproportion: some of the interviews published by the Council itself lasted only 15 or 20 minutes, enough time to outright modify the outcome of stages that took months. The statement also questioned the "multiple competitions," which expand the number of applicants who reach the interview, and the use of supplementary lists in deviation from the priority rules of the regulation itself. The Bar Association recalled that it has been urgently requesting to fill vacancies: at the beginning of the year, 37% of the national judges' positions were vacant. And it valued that the Ministry of Justice reported the submission of 203 dossiers to fill positions of judges, prosecutors, and defenders, several of which would be discussed in the public hearings on August 12 and 13. But it maintained: "Success is not measured by the number of dossiers sent, but by the suitability of those appointed." The lawyers asked to consider "the suitability of the candidates" and recalled the project by judges Carlos Rosenkrantz and Ricardo Lorenzetti to correct "systemic dysfunctions" and, among other measures, reduce the discretion of the personal interview by limiting its impact to a maximum of 10% of the total score. That project did not advance in the Judicial Council. The Bar Association requested that the same standard of independence "from parties, governments, and political agreements" be required of the four representatives of the legal profession to be elected on October 20 to join the Judicial Council. The lawyers based their request on a survey conducted by the Civil Association for Equality and Justice (ACIJ) and the Institute of Comparative Studies in Criminal and Social Sciences (INECIP). Movements in 67 dossiers sent by the government to the Senate until April were analyzed. The most pronounced rise was led by Juan Manuel Gaset Maisonave, followed by José Miguel Guerrero. Two cases appeared with jumps of 15 positions. Laura Wiszniacki, secretary of Civil Court No. 62, proposed for that same court (competition 420), moved from 28th to 20th place. Meanwhile, Diego Javier Souto, official defender before the oral courts, a candidate for a criminal and correctional court (competition 388), climbed from 31st to 21st. Both completed their shortlists in third place. The next group includes those who improved by 13 slots: Soledad Eugenia Mariño, secretary of the Criminal Chamber, proposed for a criminal and correctional court; Nicolás Ramón Ceballos, guarantees judge of San Isidro aiming for a Buenos Aires oral court and who ranked second in his shortlist; and Ezequiel Javier Sobrino Reig, secretary of the Civil Chamber, who, with his advance from 14th to 7th, secured the first place in the shortlist for Civil Court No. 80. Further back, with 12 positions gained, are Hugo Fabián Decaria, acting judge who moved from 36th to 22nd for a Buenos Aires oral court, and María Laura Ameri, secretary of the Federal Contentious Administrative Chamber, proposed for a court of fiscal tax enforcement. Germán Augusto Degano (Civil, competition 435) gained 11 and was second in his shortlist. In competitions with multiple positions in the Federal Chamber of La Plata (competition 366), María Verónica Michelli — daughter of Judge Jorge Michelli — and Pablo Ezequiel Wilk advanced ten places each, although both remained on the supplementary list. And in the Commercial Chamber (competition 478), Jorge Djivaris, secretary of Buenos Aires Justice, jumped eight positions, from 12th to 4th, and headed his shortlist. The upward movement also includes Samanta Claudia Biscardi (Civil Chamber, +7), Sebastián Guillermo Soneira (Federal Chamber of Mendoza, +6, from 13th to 3rd and first in the shortlist), and a group that improved by five positions: Santiago Jaimes Munilla, Diego Allievi, Ivana Sandra Quinteros, Pablo Javier Flores, and Pablo Federico Moya. The movement was not always upward. The base also records candidates who lost positions between the first merit position and the end, generally due to reordering after interviews or resignations of other contestants. The most marked setback was that of Nicolás Antonio Pacilio, son of the former federal judge of La Plata Antonio Pacilio, proposed for a Buenos Aires oral court, who fell eight places, from 2nd to 10th. Among others, Javier Matías Arzubi Calvo (−4), and a group that lost three positions: María Julia Sosa, Laura Fabiana Kvitko, Mario Alberto Ferrario, and Lucila Inés Córdoba.