MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Decree limits Argentine president's power to shape high court

Argentine President Nestor Kirchner signed a decree Thursday placing limits on his power - and that of future heads of state - to fill Supreme Court vacancies.

The measure establishes that a president's high court nominees must be reviewed by professional and social organizations before the Senate votes on whether to confirm them, Kirchner said during a speech at the presidential palace.

"We have to leave behind old practices. We don't want a (Supreme) Court addicted" to political power, he said at a ceremony attended by most of his top officials and representatives of a large number of civic, professional, political and academic organizations.

The announcement comes at a time when impeachment proceedings are underway in Congress against Supreme Court Chief Justice Julio Nazareno.

Like several of his colleagues, Nazareno is widely seen as a crony of former two-term President Carlos Menem, Kirchner's opponent in the last election.

Kirchner, who was sworn in on May 25, has urged lawmakers to press forward with the impeachment, a move that prompted critics to accuse him of wanting to unseat the current high court in order to pack it with his own allies. Thursday's decree may represent an effort to defuse those charges.

The Argentine Constitution gives the president the power to nominate Supreme Court justices subject to confirmation by a two-thirds vote in the Senate.