President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday that she won’t comply with a judge’s order to withdraw the publication of a decree that promulgated the government’s controversial judicial reform.
Nancy Juárez Salas, a federal district judge based in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, ordered Sheinbaum and the director of the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF) to remove the decree published on Sept. 15, ruling that the government breached a provisional suspension order against publication.
Former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador promulgated the judicial reform despite a court in Colima ruling against its publication in the government’s gazette.
In her ruling on Thursday, Juárez ordered Sheinbaum and DOF Director Alejandro López González to eliminate the published decree within 24 hours.
She warned that the failure to do so is punishable in accordance with a law that stipulates that a public official who fails to comply with an injunction can be sentenced to a prison term of up to nine years as well as fined and removed from office.
However, the Reforma newspaper reported that the Federal Attorney General’s Office didn’t proceed against officials who defied court orders during the presidency of López Obrador.
At her morning press conference on Friday, Sheinbaum said that the judge in Coatzacoalcos doesn’t have the authority to order the removal of the decree from the DOF.
She offered three reasons in support of her assertion:
- “A judge is not above the people.”
- “What she’s doing doesn’t have any legal basis.”
- Mexico’s Congress — which approved the judicial reform in September — “ordered the then President Andrés Manuel López Obrador” to publish the decree.
“So we’re not going to take the publication down,” Sheinbaum said.
The judicial reform — the most controversial aspect of which is the provision allowing citizens to elect all judges in Mexico, including Supreme Court justices — will not be stopped by anyone, the president said.
“Not a male judge nor a female judge, nor eight Supreme Court justices can stop the will of the people of Mexico,” said Sheinbaum, who made it known before she was elected in June that she supported all of the constitutional reform proposals that López Obrador submitted to Congress in February.
The president also said that the government would file a complaint against Juárez with the Federal Judiciary Council (CJF).
Rulings against constitutional reforms are invalid, says president’s legal advisor Â
Ernestina Godoy, legal counsel to the president, told Sheinbaum’s press conference that constitutional reforms that have been approved by Mexico’s Congress are “exempt” from judicial revision.
She highlighted that the Supreme Court, “in multiple opinions and rulings,” has “rejected” the notion that a constitutional reform can be reviewed in court.
“It’s extremely clear,” said Godoy, who served as attorney general of Mexico City while Sheinbaum was mayor of the capital.
Arturo ZaldÃvar, a former chief justice of the Supreme Court who is now an official in the Sheinbaum administration, also said that judges don’t have the authority to hand down rulings against constitutional reforms.
Godoy said that the CJF needs to review the conduct of district judges who are “defying the constitution” by handing down rulings against constitutional reforms.
Many of those judges could soon be without a job as the federal government intends to hold a first round of judicial elections in 2025.
Critics of the reform argue that judges sympathetic to the ruling Morena party’s legislative agenda could come to dominate the nation’s courts, effectively removing an important check on government power.
With reports from Animal PolÃtico, Reforma, El Financiero and MilenioÂ
This will help international business investors make strategic decisions moving forward.
Yep, a real vote of confidence.
A Judge being elected in Mexico is suspicious. At the local voting level, who has the biggest influence: Cartels/money or Mexico Federal Government? Who will these elected Judges owe their loyalty?
To whom would they owe their loyalty under your preferred/past system?
The law.
Candidates who will be running for judicial position will be vetted and held accountable by a judicial watchdog board of whom also will be elected by the people. This method will ensure the best candidates will be in the pool rather than have politicians elect those who are like minded and or who would favor their respective interests.
Amen.
Wishful thinking.
It takes a special group of people to simultaneously shoot themselves in both feet ; remove the very hard won independent checks on executive power AND frighten off international capital at a critical moment (near-shoring / friend-shoring )
Mi Presidenta! Estoy tan orgulloso de ella. Were we to analyze this as an hypothetical under the USA constitutional system, the low judge’s ruling would be reviewed by one or more higher Court with the reviewing Court having the ability to terminate any injunction/stay issued by a lower judge/Court.
So, how is the nomination process conducted?
How are potential elected judges vetted?
What is their term?
Can they be removed before the term expires?
It would have been better if the President had simply asked an appeals court to overturn the district judge’s ruling. The fight, however, is between a judicial branch that doesn’t want to change, and an approved constitutional amendment. The current administration must fear that the courts, including the Mexican Supreme Court, would agree with the district judge. So it is less politically fraught to defy a district judge.
Israel faces a similar move by the Netanyahu government to reduce the power of the Supreme Court there. However, if that court were to overturn the act of the Knesset, it is unlikely Netanyahu could get the Knesset to overturn the court.
Even since the 15th century, the key political movement has been the balance of power. Always fascinating to watch! One can hope that the controversy will cause the Congress and President to move very cautiously into the election of judges, through top flight screening.
Mexico another Venezuela in the making. Just watch and see what the “future of Mexico” is going to be. A controlled country by “elected ” corrupt” Judges” under the control of the Cartel,
The Cartel will be control of all the country, including the Military.