The former judge of the Supreme Court of Justice Carlos Fayt, died tonight at the age of 98, said his lawyer Jorge Rizzo. The head of the Supreme Court, Ricardo Lorenzetti, expressed his condolences, saying that "they will give him the tributes he deserves" but stressed that "the important thing now is to respect the family."
"The country is crying. Dr. Carlos Santiago Fayt has passed away, his daughter Graciela just confirmed it to me. Cheers, Maestro. Thank you for everything," Rizzo wrote on his Twitter account confirming the news.
Lawyer, writer and professor, Fayt was born in Salta in February 1918. and went Minister of the Supreme Court since the restoration of democracy in 1983 until 2015.
On December 11, Fayt left the court after 32 years, which was a record for the length of his tenure there, and four days later, at a farewell ceremony with his peers on the highest court, he asked: "Celebrate a free country."
At the event, a video was shown with images from the last four decades, including the swearing-in before Alfonsín, and then union leader Julio Piumato presented Fayt with a plaque for "a life dedicated to justice."
Supreme Court President Ricardo Lorenzetti spoke out about the jurist's death. "He always thought more about the country than about personal matters," he said, adding: "We had a very close relationship with him and that is why we feel this pain."
Lorenzetti also stressed that "the important thing now is to respect the family." "We are going to give him the tributes he deserves," he said, "but we are going to do what the family wants, these are very intimate decisions."
The former Supreme Court judge retired from the body one day after Cristina Kirchner left the presidency, following strong tensions between Fayt and Kirchnerism, a political space that even went so far as to promote a commission in Congress to determine his suitability to exercise his position at such an advanced age, something that later came to nothing.
He began practicing law at just 20 years old, and defended several politically persecuted people during the military dictatorship, through the presentation of habeas corpus petitions.
Throughout his life, he led an active academic career in the field of law and in 1983 he joined the Supreme Court, with Alfonsín as head of state.
In 2003 he was appointed President of the Court for a few months, although for most of his years on the court he served as a "minister."
Six years later, he was awarded the “Reference for Humanity” prize by the International Young Leaders Foundation.
Although she had received criticism from various political leaders in various areas over the past 20 years for remaining in the Court at an advanced age, the toughest confrontation on this issue occurred during the final moments of Cristina Kirchner's administration.
The questioning of Fayt was due to his alleged lack of suitability to remain in office due to his advanced age, since the Constitution establishes that judges must retire at 75 years of age, although the magistrate remained in office after obtaining a favorable ruling to continue following the constitutional reform that established this rule.
This legislative reform was introduced in 1994 and establishes that after the age of 75, judges can only continue with the agreement of the Senate for five more years, and so on.
But Fayt filed an appeal alleging that he had entered office before the constitutional reform and with that argument he remained in office until December 11, 2015 when he left his position as minister.
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