Fayt was the unanimous choice to lead the court following the resignation of the previous interim head, Eduardo Moliné O'Connor, on 3 July. Moliné, who quit his positions as both vice-president and temporary leader of the court in order to prepare his defence against imminent impeachment proceedings, himself was a replacement for the supreme court's last officially elected head, Julio Nazareno. Nazareno quit at the end of June shortly before his impeachment trial was to begin.
According to sources within the judiciary, the 85-year-old Fayt has been chosen because he is the senior member of the court. He has been a supreme court justice since the restoration of elected rule in 1983, he does not owe his appointment to former President Carlos Menem.
Although this means that Fayt does not belong to the pro-Menem 'automatic majority' bloc that Kirchner is currently targeting, he is nonetheless a controversial figure.
Rumours about his impeachment have circulated since Kirchner came to power, due to accusations of conflict of interest over the issue of bank deposits.
It appears unlikely, however, that the president will move against Fayt before an official election for the leadership of the supreme court can be held in November. Moliné, who has remained on the court's bench, has vowed to fight his impeachment rather than stepping down as Nazareno did. And after Moliné there are three other members of the 'automatic majority' (Adolfo Vázquez, Guillermo López and Antonio Boggiano), who Kirchner appears to want to remove one by one.
Kirchner has proposed that the criminal lawyer Raúl Eugenio Zaffaroni be appointed to fill the vacancy left by Nazareno's resignation.
It is thought that the decision to put Zaffaroni forward was taken by Kirchner alone. Government sources had previously suggested that there would be a delay of three weeks or so before a possible replacement was named, but the president is said to have been keen to resolve the issue before departing for his tour of Europe.
Zaffaroni, who once belonged to the centre-left opposition party Frepaso, could be on the supreme court within a month or so, after having received approval from the senate and undergone a rigorous screening process.
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