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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) \u2014 Argentina\u2019s senate on Thursday rejected the two Supreme Court candidates that President Javier Milei nominated by decree earlier this year<\/a>, dealing a major blow to the libertarian leader.<\/p>\n The congressional defeat could complicate the implementation of Milei’s radical state overhaul of Argentina, as analysts say the president had hoped to fill the Supreme Court vacancies with appointees who would rule favorably on challenges to his economic reforms.<\/p>\n Milei in February bypassed Congress to appoint two controversial Supreme Court candidates, invoking a clause in Argentina\u2019s constitution that he said empowered him to fill the vacant seats during the legislature’s summer recess.<\/p>\n Politicians sharply criticized the move as an overreach of executive power, saying that a president has extremely limited authority to make judicial appointments during a congressional break.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s a serious institutional conflict that the executive branch has initiated against the legislative and judicial branches,\u201d said Sen. Anabel Fern\u00e1ndez Sagasti from Uni\u00f3n por la Patria party, the hardline opposition bloc. \u201cWhat we are discussing is an institutional assault.\u201d<\/p>\n Both of Milei’s candidates \u2014 federal judge Ariel Lijo<\/a> and conservative law professor Manuel Garc\u00eda-Mansilla \u2014 had failed last year to secure the two-thirds majority required to confirm the candidates in the senate, where the president’s libertarian coalition holds just seven of the 72 seats.<\/p>\n Milei resorted to presidential decree to fill the two vacant seats on the five-judge court, testing the boundaries of his executive power as he has repeatedly done over the past year to overcome his minority in Congress.<\/p>\n