"Horror" and "electoral fraud": harsh criticism of the Government for the appointment of Ariel Lijo to the Supreme Court

Following the decision to officially appoint Ariel Lijo and Manuel García Mansilla as Supreme Court judges by decree, various opposition and pro-government political figures came out against the Government for being an “ unheard of ” measure. However, all fingers pointed at Lijo .

This is why legislators from different parties agreed that appointing new members of the Supreme Court by decree is a "bad decision" by the Government and announced that they will not endorse this decision by the Executive Branch.

One of the leaders who spoke out against the measure was Elisa “Lilita” Carrió , who through her X account (formerly Twitter) stated: "From an institutional and republican point of view, it is a real horror. As for Lijo, it is a corruption scandal of national and international magnitude."

The deputy Juan Manuel López also spoke out on his social networks: “By forcing the Constitution, Milei seeks to guarantee her impunity and that of her sister with Lijo in the Court. But sooner or later he will be extorted. Poor Argentine people, condemned to pilgrimage for justice. The Senate can still say #LijoNo.”

One post that is not surprising is that of the libertarian senator Francisco Paoltroni , who also expressed his skepticism regarding Lijo's appointment. In his case, he chose to do so through a video. In August 2024, Paoltroni was expelled from La Libertad Avanza for publicly showing himself against Lijo's nomination and being very critical of Santiago Caputo.

“The appointment of Judge Lijo by decree represents a real electoral fraud for those of us who believed in a different Argentina, with a quality and independent justice system. The fiefdoms and all those who want to protect themselves judicially are celebrating. Regrettable ,” he wrote in the same tweet.

Other parliamentarians who rejected the measure were Bartolomé Abdala and José Mayans, from La Libertad Avanza and Peronism, respectively; and the deputies Silvia Lospennato (Juntos); Karina Banfi (UCR) and Nicolás Massot (Encuentro Federal), who defined the decree as a "bad decision" and anticipated that they will not support it from their seats.

Lospennato said that, in order to manage its agenda, the Executive Branch "needs some laws , not all of them, but the most important ones are those that the Constitution, fortunately, prohibited from being made by law."

Mayans stressed that Congress has exclusive power over certain matters, which cannot be addressed by decree. In this regard, he warned that it is not possible to impose decisions through this mechanism. In addition, he criticized the strategies of the Executive Branch to impose last year's agenda, pointing out that the Government attempted to violate the Constitution. According to him, Decree 70, related to the Omnibus Law, was illegal when it attempted to modify 300 laws and repeal 82, assuming powers that do not correspond to it, which led to the failure of the initiative because it was in conflict with the Constitution.

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The legislator also warned about the serious situation of not having a national budget, since he considered that the lack of this vital tool leads to a government without a clear direction. According to Mayans, this lack of planning is being reflected in the present, affecting the direction of the country.

In parallel, Massot criticised another project of the Executive, such as the presentation of the RIGI for 30 years, describing it as a " mistake " of the Government for not having tried to reach an agreement with the opposition. According to Massot, this type of decision, although legal, lacks legitimacy due to the lack of consensus.

There was another post by César Biondini, leader of the Patriotic Front and former presidential candidate, who also expressed his dissatisfaction with the measure: "The libertarians criticized me for talking about 'the regime' and today it was proven that we were always right. This is an autocracy ," he said.

What makes Lijo a controversial judge?

In recent years, the Lijo brothers have been nicknamed "the Lujo brothers" and "the suitcase brothers", referring to their supposed taste for expensive and luxurious things. Lijo's relationship with the Judiciary began in the 1990s, when he worked in the office of the chamber judge Luisa "Piru" Riva Aramayo , accompanied by his brother-in-law and co-worker, former judge Gabriel Cavallo. Later, Cavallo assumed the position of head of the federal court No. 4 and, in 2004, Lijo occupied the position left vacant by his brother-in-law.

His career in the judicial field was accompanied by a parallel growth in the business of his brother Freddy Lijo , who during that period dedicated himself to horse breeding, founded an insurance company and created companies abroad. During those years, the Lijo brothers organized truco tournaments at Freddy's house, located in Country Abril, where judges and agents of the SIDE used to attend, such as Leonardo Bergroth , who was one of those who traveled to Lago Escondido with judges, officials and directors of the Clarín Group .

The "strange" issues became evident during the impeachment trial of former chamber member Eduardo Freiler , when Freddy's ex-wife, María Carla Lago, revealed details about her ex-husband's businesses.

One of the surprises of his testimony was that Lago had a fleet of Nextel phones in his name that were used by Freddy, Ariel Lijo, Gabriel Cavallo and the prosecutor Eduardo Taiano. After the scandal, all those involved changed their devices. Freddy Lijo was always seen in Comodoro Py as a key judicial operator . In December 2014, when the intelligence system of Cristina Kirchner's government collapsed after the departure of Antonio "Jaime" Stiuso from the Intelligence Secretariat and the fall of Javier Fernández, Lijo presented himself as the new judicial operator of the government.