Carlos Fayt

Carlos Santiago Fayt (b. 1 February 1918, Salta"Página/12": [http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/sociedad/3-98300-2008-02-01.html Fayt canta los noventa] , 1 February 2008] ) is an Argentine lawyer, politician, academic and a member of Supreme Court of Justice of Argentina since 1983. [http://www.csjn.gov.ar/data/cv_fayt.pdf Supreme Court CV] . Accessed 5 May 2008.]

Fayt was born in Salta but at a young age moved to Buenos Aires. He graduated as a lawyer in 1941 from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). He played an active role in trade union life, heading the Buenos Aires Lawyers' Association 1963-1965, and had an extensive academic career. Fayt taught at UBA and at the National University of La Plata, specialising in political law. He is now Emeritus Professor at UBA and teaches at Belgrano University.

He was also an active socialist and stood to be governor of Salta Province in 1958. A supporter of Nicolás Repetto and Alfredo Palacios, he later became part of the faction of Carlos Sánchez Viamonte. ["La Nación": [http://www.lanacion.com.ar/457123 Un juez en el medio de la tempestad] , 9 December 2002.] After splits in the Socialist Party, however, he dedicated himself to civic and academic life."La Nación": [http://www.lanacion.com.ar/Archivo/Nota.asp?nota_id=508966 Fayt presidirá la transición en la Corte] , 5 July 2003.] Three of his 35 books are on the subject of Peronism.

Fayt was appointed to the Supreme Court by the new democratic government of President Raúl Alfonsín in 1983, despite never having served as a judge. In the 1990s, when President Carlos Menem had increased the size of the Court and appointed several sympathetic Justices, Fayt was one of those who generally opposed the majority view. Fayt and his colleague Enrique Petracchi are two of the longest serving Supreme Court Justices in Argentina ever. He had previously been approached by President Arturo Illia in the 1960s to join the Supreme Court, but had turned the role down on that occasion. ["La Nación": [http://www.lanacion.com.ar/989778 "Ahora, la Argentina tiene una verdadera Corte Suprema"] , 23 February 208.] From July 2003 he presided over the court for some months.

References