How Will Courts Operate During the Judicial Holiday in the Mendoza Province of Argentina?

The Supreme Court of Justice (Suprema Corte de Justicia), located in the Mendoza province of Argentina, has planned in detail how the judicial system will operate during the judicial term holiday that will take place in July of the year 2026. This comprehensive decision aims to guarantee that emergencies and indispensable essential services across the province are not disrupted during the winter judicial holiday. In this context, both the institutional management of the judicial authorities and the shift systems of different courts have been meticulously regulated. The political and institutional management of the highest authority of the judiciary will be carried out in two separate shifts during the holiday period. Thus, uninterrupted service provision is aimed to be provided to meet the urgent legal needs of the citizens.

Dalmiro Garay Cueli, who serves as the president of the Supreme Court, will take over the leadership seat in the first week of the judicial holiday. Cueli's term is planned to start on Monday, 13 Temmuz and end on Sunday, 20 Temmuz. After the completion of this weekly period, the person who will take over the management responsibility in the second week of the court will be Minister Mario Adaro. Starting from Monday, 21 Temmuz until Friday, 24 Temmuz, Adaro will successfully carry out the task of leading the Judicial Power. This divided management structure is designed to prevent any vacuum of authority at the highest level of the judicial system.

Within the scope of the newly issued resolution, not only the top-level managers but also the coordinators of the sub-units have been clearly designated. The officials in charge of the Labor, Civil, Family, Criminal, Youth Criminal, and Misdemeanor courts will closely supervise the activities of the courts and related units that will be on duty during the holiday period. Especially in the region called the First Judicial Department (Greater Mendoza), the workload of the first-instance courts tasked with handling urgent civil cases will be brought together under a single roof. In this context, the Second Related Judicial Chamber located on the sixth floor of the Palace of Justice has been designated as the center for all urgent civil cases. The workload of the family courts has been geographically divided in two between the courts in the Mitre and Montevideo areas of the city to facilitate citizens' access.

Urgent procedures regarding criminal cases and prisons will continue to be carried out in a centralized manner at the Criminal Judicial District (Polo Judicial Penal) located on Plantamura street. In this context, the First Colonial Criminal Court will take over all cases and procedures in the first week of the judicial holiday. With the arrival of the second week, a handover will take place, and the processes will be transferred to the Second Colonial Criminal Court. In addition, court duties, which are of continuous critical importance regarding decisions and guarantees related to the deprivation of individuals' liberty, will be provided uninterruptedly by designated special judges. In this way, even if there is a judicial holiday, the most sensitive cases, such as the apprehension of perpetrators and the protection of victims, will be able to proceed without slowing down.

In addition to this detailed planning in the provincial center of Mendoza, similar emergency action plans have been prepared for the remaining rural and other regions of the province. For example, in the Second Judicial District, which covers the San Rafael, General Alvear, and Malargüe regions, civil and criminal cases will be mostly resolved in the courts in San Rafael; for urgent demands such as domestic violence, local magistrate and family courts distributed throughout the region will serve. In the Third Judicial District covering the east of the province, a specific building in the San Martín region will function as the center for all regional civil, labor, family, and criminal cases. Finally, critical public units such as the legalization and documentation offices, the Women's Directorate, and the Adoption Registry will continue to provide services actively both physically in their offices and via telephone during the two-week holiday.