In times of tension between political power, Justice and the media, the figure of Juan Carlos Maqueda returned to occupy the center of the public scene. It is that he former judge of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation received the award this Thursday the 4th Honor Pen 2026the highest distinction granted by the National Academy of Journalism, in recognition of the rulings he promoted during his 22 years on the highest court in defense of freedom of expression and freedom of the press.
The distinction is a strong message in favor of tolerance at a time when a President governs who not only calls for “hating” journalists, but also earned questions from journalistic entities and organizations such as Amnesty International and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which expressed their concern about the growing climate of violence fueled by power.
The ceremony took place in the Mariano Moreno National Librarywith the presence of the president of the Supreme Court, Horacio Rosatti; the president of the National Academy of Journalism, Joaquín Morales Solá; the president of Editorial Perfil, Jorge Fontevecchiajournalists from the Academy and members of the legal and intellectual community.
Distinction. Maqueda gave a speech with strong institutional content. Far from limiting himself to protocol thanks, he chose to reflect on the contemporary challenges that democracies face. “Freedom of the press, which is sacred, and at this moment is very threatened, is not a gift of history, but the result of a struggle that began in the Renaissance“, he stated in front of the audience. At the same time he added: “The tendency of the concentration of power is to restrict freedom of expression. And as a society we have the right to information”, linking that concept with the ideas of tolerance developed by the philosopher Baruch Spinoza.
One of the most emotional moments of the day came when he decided to share the recognition with those who made up the Supreme Court during the democratic period. “I share this award with all the men and women of the Supreme Court of the Nation of this democratic period,” he expressed, especially vindicating the jurisprudential construction that consolidated in Argentina the doctrine of “actual malice,” a key tool to protect public debate and journalistic work against attempts at indirect censorship.
Before delivery, Joaquín Morales Solá He drew a profile of the honoree. He highlighted that Maqueda understood freedom of the press not as a corporate privilege of journalists or media, but as a right that belongs to the entire society. “He always maintained that freedom of expression is what allows governments to be controlled and avoid abuse of power”said the president of the Academy.
Resume. Born in Río Tercero, Córdoba, lawyer, political leader, legislator and conventional constituent of the 1994 constitutional reform, Maqueda arrived at the Supreme Court in 2002 and remained there until 2024.
For more than two decades he participated in decisions that marked the institutional course of the country, especially in issues related to constitutional guarantees, fundamental rights and the protection of public liberties.
