Mexico's Senate Approves Regulations on Judicial Reform

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Facts

  • Mexico's Senate approved on Thursday — with 81 votes in favor — secondary legislation regulating the implementation of a constitutional reform that allows voters to directly elect all judges.[1]
  • The proposal was brought forward by the country's new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, earlier this week and will now head to the lower house of Congress — where the ruling Morena party and its allies have a large majority.[1][2]
  • If approved, the secondary legislation would allow voters in Mexico to choose between two or three candidates for each judicial position, depending on its level, after an open process that includes veto power for each branch of government.[3]
  • This comes as the Senate must publish the call for candidates for the election by Tuesday, and the deadline to pass secondary legislation expires in two months. Mexicans are set to vote in the first set of judicial elections on June 1.[4]
  • Earlier this month, the Supreme Court accepted a challenge to the judicial overhaul that former Pres. Andrés Manuel López Obrador signed into law in mid-September with Sheinbaum as his 'witness of honor.'[1][5]
  • Those opposed to the law, including judicial workers as well as US Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar, claim that the changes will threaten the rule of law in Mexico and potentially impact the US-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement, set for review in 2026.[6][7][8]

Sources: [1]Reuters, [2]Voice of America, [3]Mexico Business, [4]AS/COA, [5]Mexico News Daily, [6]Al Jazeera, [7]Axios and [8]CNN.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by Wilson Center and Compact. This reform represents a long-standing and highly popular belief among the Mexican people. Critics may claim it will threaten judicial independence, but the truth is that wealthy special interests have controlled the courts for many years— blocking popular economic, energy, and corruption legislation. This corrupt status quo is about to end.
  • Narrative B, as provided by Economist and Foreign Policy. This reform is all but democratic, as the party behind it aims to use it as an authoritarian weapon. The ruling Morena party — the only real beneficiary of this law — wants to centralize control over both the civilian national guard and independent agencies and will use this newfound control over the judiciary to uphold its tyrannical policies.

Predictions