😱 Supreme Court judges by decree?

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Is Javier Milei’s Supreme Court power grab legal?

Latin America has witnessed a wave of controversial Supreme Court overhauls in recent years, as leaders reshape their countries’ highest courts to align with their political agendas:

• President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador leveraged his party’s overwhelming control of Congress to replace the court with loyalists.

• In Bolivia, a system introduced over a decade ago allowed the left-wing ruling party, MAS, to stack the judiciary through elections.

• And in Mexico, President Andrés Manuel “AMLO” López Obrador pushed through a constitutional reform to elect top justices directly by popular vote.

Driving the news. With much fewer votes and congressional power than Bukele or AMLO, Argentina’s Javier Milei is now trying to pull a similar move. While a regular Supreme Court judge nomination would need a two-thirds majority in the Senate, Milei is using a loophole to put up justices of his own while holding just six of 72 seats in the upper chamber.

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