 Gretchen Helmke, Checks and Balances by Other Means: Strategic Defection and Argentina¡¯s Supreme Court in the 1990s Judges who lack independence are not automatically subservient to the government of the day. Analysis of the separation of powers can explain why, when, and in which types of cases judges who lack secure tenure strategically defect from the government by ruling against it when it violates the rule of law. This theoretical framework explains a number of otherwise puzzling decisions handed down by the Argentine supreme court in the 1990s. In a context of democratic consolidation, the scope of the court¡¯s defection was reduced but not eliminated. |