The Senate will focus its parliamentary activity this month on the process to approve nearly 80 judicial, prosecutorial, and defense nominations sent by the Executive Branch. This week, it will kick off with a public hearing where Judge Juan Mahiques will present his case. Mahiques, father of Justice Minister Juan Baustista Mahiques, is a member of the Federal Chamber of Cassation and will turn 75 on November 1st, the retirement age established by the National Constitution. However, the ruling party is promoting a measure to allow him to stay for another five years. According to the Argentine News Agency, the Agreements Committee—chaired by Juan Carlos Pagotto—was summoned for next Thursday, April 16th, at 10 a.m. for the judge to present his case and be granted a new five-year appointment to the Chamber of Cassation. Mahiques became the center of controversy when it was revealed that he resigned as acting head of Division I, which is investigating Pablo Toviggian for the fifth case in Pilar, who is the right-hand man of the AFA's president, Claudio 'Chiqui' Tapia. On his personal page, the judge highlights that he has 'more than five decades of experience in criminal jurisdiction, public security, and comparative criminal policy' and is 'a specialist in organized crime and international terrorism, having led cases of high transcendence' such as the AMIA case, as in 2024 he issued a ruling on the terrorist attack that caused 85 deaths. NOMINATIONS The Senate has granted parliamentary status to 78 judges, prosecutors, and defenders. The first step will be their publication in the Official Bulletin and on the Senate's social media, which will allow for seven days to submit endorsements and challenges to each nomination. Subsequently, in the last week of April and the first week of May, public hearings will be held where each nominee must present and answer questions from senators, and in mid-May, the nominations will be considered in an ordinary session. Among the nominations to be considered is that of Emilio Rosatti, son of the President of the Supreme Court, Horacio Rosatti, for a position in a federal trial court in the city of Santa Fe. The nomination of María Julia Sosa, secretary of the court of Julián Ercolini—the magistrate who handled high-profile cases involving former President Cristina Kirchner, such as Vialidad and Hotesur-Los Sauces—was also included.
