Purge

In a velvet-curtained room off the Capitolio's Senate chamber, three Peronista Senators were quietly but efficiently remaking the Argentine judiciary. Their power stemmed from a previously unnoticed paragraph in the new Peron constitution (TIME, March 29) which provided that all federal justices be confirmed by the Senate. The clause, as interpreted by the Senate, was retroactive; it covered all sitting judges as well as new appointees.

Acting on information supplied by party and official sources, the three Senators gave the nod only to good Peronistas; their decisions were quickly ratified by the senate in secret session. By the time the committee had finished, 71 judges and magistrates were out of a job.

Most of them took dismissal philosophically. One who rebelled was Dr. Florencio Loza, for eight years on the federal bench of La Plata. "I have never allowed any outside influence to interfere with justice in my court," he wrote in an open letter to the Minister of Justice. "I .thought it was my duty to devote to my job my best efforts. With this record I now leave my country's judiciary."

More tragic was the reaction of 73-year-old Dr. Alberto F. Jordan, presiding judge of the Buenos Aires civil high court. When a Senate telegram told him that he had not been confirmed, the old man went into his study, pulled out a revolver and shot himself. The Peronista press ignored his death. Even Buenos Aires' once-great and independent La, Prensa played it pianissimo. In an obituary praising Jordan's 40 years on the bench, La Prensa reported he had died "unexpectedly."

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