MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Senate Suspends Court Justice.

Argentina's Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday to suspend a controversial Supreme Court justice, the second targeted in a high court purge led by President Nestor Kirchner.

Lawmakers voted 40-18 to suspend Justice Eduardo Moline O'Connor as a prelude to planned impeachment proceedings. They accused him of misconduct, charges he has vehemently denied.

The judge was appointed by former President Carlos Menem in the 1990s. Critics say many of his rulings were politically motivated.

Legal experts say Moline formed part of what was known as the "automatic majority" ? five members of the nine-judge court who frequently ruled in favor of the government during Menem's 1989-99 presidency.

Menem reorganized and expanded the Supreme Court in 1989. The court in recent years has angered many Argentines with what analysts describe as questionable decisions on privatization and government investigations.

The move in Congress to oust Moline has increased the verbal sparring between supporters of Kirchner's attempts to overhaul the court and those who accuse him of acting with his own political motives.

Former chief justice Julio Nazareno resigned from the high court in June rather than face impeachment after Kirchner went on national television to say he wanted to shake up the tribunal.

Before he was appointed to the court, Nazareno was Menem's law partner.

Moline, meanwhile, has shown no signs of going quietly. During a presentation before the Senate on Wednesday, he bemoaned attempts to strip him of his seat as "political discrimination."

But the government has signalled the moves are intended to overhaul a high court which Justice Minister Gustavo Beliz described as "bought and sold" in the 1990s.

Beliz said that, during the Menem era, "a judicial system was built up that was largely based on friendships and with the aim of ensuring impunity. We want to ensure that there is now transparency."