The Dean of the Faculty of Law of the Universidad AustralManuel J. García-Mansilla was invited to participate in the panel “Impeachment of the Supreme Court: Constitutional Perspectives”, at a conference organized by the Center for Studies in Public Law of the University of San Andrés (UdeSA).
During the meeting, held on Wednesday, February 8, at the Riobamba campus of the university, the constitutional perspectives of the trial against the Supreme Court were analyzed. Along with Dean García-Mansilla, presentations were given by María Angélica Gelli, Member of the CEDEP Advisory Committee, and Diego Botana, Professor of Constitutional Law at UdeSA.
During his presentation, Dean García-Mansilla analyzed the impeachment request submitted at the behest of President Alberto Fernández. He discussed the historical background of the concept of "impeachment" and provided a detailed analysis of the grounds presented by the members of Congress to initiate the impeachment proceedings.
“While I understand that none of the complaints against the Supreme Court justices have any chance of succeeding, I believe it is worthwhile to take the one originally brought by the Executive to analyze some issues related to that peculiar constitutional mechanism we call “impeachment,” Manuel García-Mansilla began his presentation.
“…the impeachment proceedings are not based on any of the grounds required by our Constitution to remove a Supreme Court justice,” he stated. He added: “The real reason for this request against all the Supreme Court justices is the disagreement and criticism of certain rulings that the current government considers inconvenient.”
García-Mansilla stated that the National Constitution, unlike those of other countries, does not consider judges as mere bureaucrats, but as a true power with specific responsibilities. And the regular exercise of those responsibilities must be respected.
“Fortunately, it will not succeed thanks to the wisdom of our original framers who, exactly 170 years ago, envisioned situations of potential abuses like this and therefore demanded a qualified majority that none of these impeachment requests will be able to achieve,” he concluded.
Relive the Day HERE
