Carlos Santiago Fayt (1 February 1918'' Página/12''
Fayt canta los noventa
1 February 2008 – 22 November 2016) was an Argentine lawyer, politician, academic and a member of the Supreme Court of Justice of Argentina from 1983 to 2015.Supreme Court CV
. Accessed 5 May 2008.

Early life and career

Fayt was born in 1918 in

Salta Salta () is the capital and largest city in the Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Salta Province, the same name. With a population of 618,375 according to the 2010 census, it is also the List of cities in Argentina, 7th most-populous ...

, but his family was from Tartagal. His father, Emilio Moisés Fayt, was an

Arab Christian Arab Christians () are the Arabs who adhere to Christianity. The number of Arab Christians who live in the Middle East was estimated in 2012 to be between 10 and 15 million. Arab Christian communities can be found throughout the Arab world, bu ...

Syrian Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...

descent and his mother, Sara Pérez Robles, was of

criollo Criollo or criolla (Spanish for creole) may refer to: People * Criollo people, a social class in the Spanish colonial system. Animals * Criollo duck, a species of duck native to Central and South America. * Criollo cattle, a group of cattle bre ...

background. At a young age he moved to

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. He graduated as a lawyer in 1941 from the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...

(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 The National University of La Plata (, UNLP) is a national public research university located in the city of La Plata, capital of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It has over 90,000 regular students, 10,000 teaching staff, 17 departments and 10 ...

, specialising in political law. He was

Emeritus Professor ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

at UBA and taught at Belgrano University during the last years of his life. He was also an active member of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

, and stood to be

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Salta Province Salta () is a Provinces of Argentina, province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the east clockwise Formosa Province, Formosa, Chaco Province, Chaco, Santiago del Estero Province, Santiago del Es ...

in 1958. A supporter of Nicolás Repetto and Alfredo Palacios, he later became part of the faction of Carlos Sánchez Viamonte. After splits in the Socialist Party, however, he dedicated himself to civic and academic life.''

La Nación ''La Nación'' () is an Argentine daily newspaper. As the country's leading conservative newspaper, ''La Nación''s main competitor is the more liberal ''Clarín (Argentine newspaper), Clarín''. It is regarded as a newspaper of record for Argen ...

''
Fayt presidirá la transición en la Corte
5 July 2003. Three of his 35 books are on the subject of

Peronism Peronism, also known as justicialism, is an Argentine ideology and movement based on the ideas, doctrine and legacy of Juan Perón (1895–1974). It has been an influential movement in 20th- and 21st-century Argentine politics. Since 1946, P ...

Career in the Supreme Court

Fayt was appointed to the Supreme Court by the new democratic government of President

Raúl Alfonsín Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín (; 12 March 1927 – 31 March 2009) was an Argentine lawyer and statesman who served as President of Argentina from 10 December 1983 to 8 July 1989. He was the first democratically elected president after the 7-yea ...

in 1983, despite never having served as a judge. In the 1990s, when President

Carlos Menem Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) served as the 50th president of Argentina for ten years, from 1989 to 1999. He identified as Peronism, Peronist, serving as President of the Justicialist Party for 13 years (from 1990 to 200 ...

had increased the size of the Court and appointed several sympathetic Justices, Fayt was one of those who generally opposed the majority view. Fayt is the longest serving Supreme Court Justice 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.''

''
"Ahora, la Argentina tiene una verdadera Corte Suprema"
23 February 2008. From July 2003 he presided over the court for some months. In 2008 Konex Foundation from Argentina granted him the Diamond Konex Award for Institutions - Community - Enterprise as the most important community personality in the last decade in his country. On 15 September 2015, Fayt submitted his resignation from the Supreme Court. The resignation took effect on 11 December 2015, the day after the end of the Presidential administration. Fayt died on 22 November 2016 at the age of 98.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fayt, Carlos 1918 births 2016 deaths People from Salta Argentine agnostics 20th-century Argentine judges Argentine people of Lebanese descent Argentine people of Syrian descent Burials at La Recoleta Cemetery Supreme Court of Argentina justices Socialist Party (Argentina) politicians University of Buenos Aires alumni Academic staff of the National University of La Plata