Federal Judge Ariel Lijo’s appointment as a Supreme Court Justice — which was ordered by President Javier Milei by decree — was suspended on Thursday after the country’s top court ruled that he can’t take on his new role unless he resigns his current post.

Three of the four members of the court voted to reject Lijo’s request of taking an unpaid leave of absence from his role as a federal judge, a post he has held for the past 20 years, in order to become a Supreme Court Justice.

Justices Horacio Rosatti, Carlos Rosenkrantz, and Manuel García-Mansilla voted against appointing Lijo until he resigns, while Ricardo Lorenzetti voted to allow it. García Mansilla is the most recent addition to the court. Just like Lijo, he was appointed by Milei by decree and was sworn in by the other Justices a week ago.

Although Argentina’s Supreme Court is supposed to have five members, resignations had dwindled that number in recent years. Justice María Elena Highton resigned in 2021 and Juan Carlos Maqueda stepped down last December. Until last Thursday, the court was operating with only three Justices.

Milei’s decision to appoint Lijo and García-Mansilla by decree to cover two vacant roles at the Supreme Court has been questioned by most of the political spectrum. The opposition has pointed out that Milei’s move was made without consent from the Senate because it happened just four days before Congress began its ordinary session period, in which his proposal to name two justices could have been addressed.

The government alleges that the president has the constitutional attribution of appointing Supreme Court Justices. However, lawyer and constitutional expert Andrés Gil Domínguez told CNN en Español radio that this is “an exceptional mechanism used to cover vacant roles when the Supreme Court is left with no members.”