A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered that two government appeals against orders by Judge Martín Cormick to apply the University Financing Law be heard. Cormick had refused to let the state appeal. The court did not decide whether the government has complied with the law.
The ruling came from Chamber 3 of the federal administrative appeals court. Judges Sergio Fernández, José Luis López Castiñeira and Jorge Eduardo Morán upheld a complaint by the Human Capital Ministry. The appeals concern whether Cormick’s injunction is still in force and his September 30 order to comply within five days or face daily fines. The judges found that denying the appeals could cause the government irreparable harm, and sent the case back to Cormick to process them. They said the decision does not prejudge whether the injunction was met.
The injunction, issued in December 2025 on a suit by the national rectors’ council, orders the government to update pay for university teachers and staff, and funds for student scholarships. Cormick fined Cabinet Chief Diego Santilli 100,000 pesos (about US$65) a day on October 14 after finding it had not been obeyed. The rectors’ council says that amount is far too small and has asked for an increase.
The ministry argues the injunction carried a time limit that has expired, and that it already complied. Its filing says university pay rose 226.80% from December 2023 to August 2025 against 226.40% inflation, and that Cormick’s own figure of 312.19% through June 2026 is wrong. It also says the law covers only the Manuel Belgrano scholarships, not the Progresar program.
What the ruling means in practice is disputed. The appeals were granted “in relation,” a procedure that under the civil procedure code does not automatically suspend enforcement of the order under appeal, according to legal reports of the ruling. Ministry sources read the ruling as suspending it, and some coverage says it froze enforcement. Chamber 3 had already paused the fines on Santilli the day after Cormick imposed them, and Santilli has asked that they stay suspended until the appeal is decided.
Chamber 3 must now rule on whether the order to comply and the fines stand. It also holds the government’s appeal of Cormick’s October 6 ruling that struck down the decree clause freezing the law, and Cormick has said his next steps depend on what the chamber decides.