The ruling and its immediate effect
Federal Judge Martín Cormick, who presides over Federal Administrative Court No. 11, issued a first-instance ruling that declared unconstitutional the portion of decree 759/2025 that had conditioned the application of the university funding law. The decision orders the executive branch to issue the regulatory and enforcement measures needed to guarantee the immediate implementation of Law 27.795. The court acted on a collective amparo filed by the National Interuniversity Council, universities and teachers, as well as a separate claim by the University of Buenos Aires. The ruling invalidates the phrase that tied the law's execution to article 5 of Law 24.629, which requires any spending law to specify its funding source or face suspension until budget items are included.[S1][S2][S3][S4][S5][S6][S7][S8]
In his reasoning, Cormick described the government's maneuver as an extraconstitutional mechanism that effectively blocked a law Congress had ratified. He noted that article 9 of Law 27.795 already provided criteria and resources for the executive to reallocate budget items, and he cited an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office putting the law's cost for 2025 at just 0.23% of GDP. The judge also pointed out that during the first two years of Milei's presidency, with no approved budget and successive extensions of the 2023 budget, the chief of staff had reassigned funds six times for other purposes, showing the mechanism was available for universities as well.[S1][S3][S5][S6]
How the conflict unfolded
The dispute began in August 2025, when Congress passed Law 27.795, known as the University Financing Law, which sets budget guidelines for the higher education program, mandates salary updates tied to the consumer price index, and adds non-remunerative sums to base pay. President Javier Milei vetoed it through decree 647/2025, but both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate overrode the veto in October with more than two-thirds of the votes, as required by article 83 of the Constitution. Unable to veto again, the executive promulgated the law via decree 759/2025, signed by Milei, then-chief of staff Guillermo Francos and minister Sandra Pettovello, while inserting a clause that suspended its application until Congress assigned specific budget items.[S1][S2][S3][S4][S5]
Cormick found that after a congressional override with aggravated majorities, the only constitutional path was unrestricted promulgation. He wrote that suspending a law on the grounds that funding sources were not precisely defined, when an article of the law itself provided guidelines, was unreasonable. The ruling also noted that the decree conflicted with article 75, section 8 of the Constitution, which grants Congress the power to determine the budget and design public spending. The judge concluded that decree 759/2025 failed a minimum test of reasonableness because it allowed the suspension of a law that Congress had insisted upon with the required supermajorities.[S1][S5][S6]
Pressure from universities and next steps
The ruling adds to earlier decisions by Cormick enforcing a precautionary measure on salaries for teaching and non-teaching staff and student scholarships, covering articles 5 and 6 of the law. On September 30, the judge gave the government five days to comply or face financial penalties. The Sala III of the Appeals Chamber confirmed that measure on March 31, 2026, and the Supreme Court rejected an extraordinary appeal on June 25, 2026, making the injunction final. With this definitive sentence, the judge addressed the merits and declared the challenged aspect of decree 759/2025 unconstitutional.[S3][S6]
University unions and associations have been demanding salary recomposition and budget updates, and a fifth Federal University March is scheduled for October 15, called by the National University Union Front, the National Interuniversity Council and the Argentine University Federation. The mobilization will press for compliance with the law, salary improvements for teachers and non-teaching staff, and more resources for universities, alongside the debate over the 2027 budget. The government has not yet announced whether it will appeal the first-instance ruling.[S2]
