Mexico: jurists strike to oppose constitutional reform
Federal judges voted Aug. 19 to go on strike across Mexico, in protest of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's pending reform of the country's judicial system. The judges will join thousands of other court employees who similarly announced an indefinite strike earlier that day over the proposed constitutional changes. Under the judicial reform unveiled in February, the number of justices ("ministers") on the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) would be reduced from 11 to nine, and all SCJN ministers as well as all judges and magistrates nationwide would be elected by popular vote. Candidates would be appointed by the three "powers" of the state: executive, judicial, and legislative. The reform would also establish a Judicial Discipline Tribunal to investigate jurists for possible corruption. The monitoring group Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) criticized the proposed reform as representing a "setback for human rights" that could consolidate power in the executive and "lead to the continuation and deepening of patterns of impunity and abuse against the population."
President López Obrador dismissed these concerns, stating: "There will not be more control by the executive power, there will be control by the people."
The reform will need a majority of votes in the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, and then approval by a majority of the 32 state legislatures, to take effect. If it passes, all serving jurists will have to step down in 2025, to be replaced by elected ones. President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, who takes office Oct. 1, fully supports the reform. (NYT, Jurist, Latin America Advisor, PRI)
See our last reports on the judicial reform and the human rights crisis in Mexico.
Mexico electoral body grants ruling coalition supermajority
Mexico’s National Electoral Institute (INE) approved a controversial allocation of seats in the Chamber of Deputies on Aug. 23, granting President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's MORENA party and allies a supermajority to pass constitutional reforms without opposition backing.
In its decision, the INE governing council voted to allocate 364 of the 500 seats in the Chamber of Deputies to the ruling coalition, despite the coalition securing less than 60 percent of the votes in the June 2 elections. This allocation provides the bloc with a qualified majority of 334 votes, surpassing the two-thirds threshold required to amend the Mexican constitution. (Jurist)
The move involves a law that assigns some seats in Congress on the basis of proportional representation. That was designed to give smaller parties some seats in Congress, based on their national vote percentage, even if they couldn't win individual congressional district races. The law also stipulates that the proportional seats can’t be used to give any party a majority in Congress.
MORENA apparently got around that by "lending" some of its winning congressional district candidates to two allied smaller parties. The smaller parties aren not subject to the no-majority rule, but they vote in lockstep with MORENA. (AP) The two parties in question are the Partidos del Trabajo (PT) and the Partido Verde Ecologista de México (PVEM). (InfoBae)
Aso Aug. 23, Mexico said it is sending a diplomatic note of protest after the US ambassador criticized the proposed judicial reform. López Obrador called the comments "disrespectful of our national sovereignty." US Ambassador Ken Salazar said the previous day that the proposed changes pose a "risk" to Mexico's democracy and threaten "the historic commercial relationship" between the two countries. (AP)
Mexico: judge blocks Congressional advance of judicial reforms
Reuters reported Sept. 1 that a judge in Mexico issued an order prohibiting the lower house of Congress from discussing controversial judicial reforms, according to a legal document reviewed by the news agency.
Reuters states the order, issued by District Judge Martha Eugenia Magaña López, is intended to prevent lawmakers from debating and voting on the reforms until Sept. 4, when the judge will determine whether a permanent suspension is necessary. Similar orders have previously been disregarded by officials, with the ruling Morena party leader in the lower house, Ricardo Monreal, calling such orders "undue and rude interference." (Jurist)
Mexico: judical reform reaches final vote in Senate
Mexico’s Senate committees late on Sept. 8 approved a controversial judicial reform, which aims to transform the system entirely. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his Morena party have been advocating the reform to remedy a corrupt court system.
The bill, which had already passed by a wide margin in the Morena-controlled lower house, was approved in a seven-hour session of the Senate's Constitutional Points and Legislative Studies Committees. The proposed reform bill includes a measure to elect judges, ministers (Supreme Court justices), and magistrates by popular vote. It would also reduce the number of Supreme Court ministers. Additionally, the reform proposes the creation of a Judicial Discipline Tribunal to investigate judicial misconduct and ensure transparency within the judicial system.
Opponents of the bill, including prominent judges and judicial workers, have taken their concerns to the streets Most recently, Supreme Court ministers demonstrated their opposition by joining the protests and declaring a strike against the reform. Justice Norma Piña, president of the Supreme Court, outlined an alternative reform in a video statement on Sunday, stating: “Our history cannot be defined by the simplistic narrative that all the country’s security and justice problems are the judges’ fault. Those who believe this do not know Mexico.”
While López Obrador's ruling Morena party praised the reform as "historic" on X (formerly Twitter), opposition and human rights organizations warn of politicization of the judiciary and a disproportionate influence of the ruling party on judicial decisions, jeopardizing the impartiality of the system. Human Rights Watch voiced concerns over the ruling party's interest in influencing which judicial candidates would run for election. In addition, it remains uncertain how and if candidates will receive funding for their election campaigns.
After approval by the two committees, the reform bill moves to the Senate floor for a full vote. The Morena-led coalition is one vote short of the two-thirds majority in the Senate needed to pass it. (Jurist)
Protesters storm Mexico Senate amid judicial reform debate
Hundreds of protesters breached Mexico's Senate on Sept. 10 as lawmakers deliberated a controversial reform to overhaul the judiciary. The disorder forced the Senate to suspend its session temporarily, citing safety concerns for the legislators inside.
Amid the final vote on the judicial reform, protesters forced their way into the Senate chamber, chanting slogans such as “The judiciary will not fall.” Among the demonstrators were college students from various law faculties, who chanted phrases like “Mexico endures, the people resist.” Due to the disruption at the chamber, the Senate announced the suspension of the session.
Subsequently, the Senate issued a statement declaring the resumption of the session at an alternative location, asserting that the protest was “an attempt to undermine the exercise of the Legislative Power, affecting…the democratic institutions of the Mexican state." The statement was accompanied by a post from Senate President Fernández Noroña on X, announcing the resumption of the session and stating, "There will be a judicial reform."
Protests continued outside the alternate Senate location, resulting in a clash between protesters and police forces, which intensified following the support for the reform by opposition senator Miguel Ángel Yunes, which could provide the necessary votes for the approval of the judicial reform.
The Senate members relocated to the historic Casona de Xicoténcatl to continue debate, which led to the reform being approved early Sept. 11. (Jurist)
Mexico Senate approves controversial judicial reform
Mexico’s Senate approved controversial judicial reforms early on Sept. 11 despite protesters storming the chamber earlier in the session.
The reform, pushed by President Andres Manuel López Obrador, obtained the two-thirds majority vote it needed to succeed in the Senate. It was approved with 86 votes in favor and 41 against after members the opposition bloc, led by Senator Miguel Ángel Yunes (Veracruz-PAN), decided to cast their vote in favor of the reform.
Approved by both houses of Congress, the reform now needs the endorsement of at least 17 state legislatures to be constitutionally accepted. As official announcements confirm, 20 states have already endorsed the proposal, with the latest being the states of Mexico and Guerrero. (Jurist)