Minister proposes invalidating the election of judges and magistrates by direct vote • News • Forbes México

A Supreme Court minister proposed invalidating part of the judicial reform promoted by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and approved in September by Congress, which affected the markets and alerted investors.

The project was made public this Monday, after the Court declared itself competent in October to analyze whether the reform to the Constitution, which proposes the election of judges by popular vote, affects the autonomy of the Judicial Branch, the independence of its members and the principle of division of powers.

“This decision is consistent with the notorious loss of inter-institutional dialogue that currently prevails and, in more general terms, the constitutional crisis that the judicial reform analyzed has generated,” says the draft sentence of Minister Juan Luis González Alcántara Carrancá.

Read: Polarization due to judicial reform threatens the rule of law, warns Iglesia

To be approved, the project, promoted by jurists and opposition parties, requires at least eight of the 11 votes of the full Court. Three ministers have spoken publicly in favor of the reform proposed by AMLO.

The project proposes invalidating the election by popular vote of judges and magistrates contained in the judicial reform. In addition, it raises the invalidity of the figure of faceless judges, among other things.

There is still no date for the vote, but it is estimated that it will be before November 30, when Minister Luis María Aguilar will leave office after the end of his 15-year term.

President Claudia Sheinbaum has criticized the Court’s decision to analyze the constitutionality of the reform at a time when Congress, dominated by the ruling party, is discussing an initiative to ensure that reforms to the Magna Carta cannot be challenged, a measure that has been described as authoritarian by the opposition.

At the end of September the INE formally began next year’s electoral process derived from the judicial reform.

In June 2025, the election will be held to replace all the ministers of the Supreme Court, which will go from 11 to nine members, members of the Disciplinary Court, vacancies in the Superior Chamber, all of the regional chambers of the Electoral Tribunal and the half of the magistrates and district judges in the country.