Sunday, September 01, 2024

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Mexico judge orders Congress not to discuss controversial judicial reform


August 31, 2024
By Reuters

A unionized federal court worker protests against reforms that would make all judges stand for election in Mexico City, Aug. 26, 2024.

MEXICO CITY —

A Mexican judge ordered the Lower House of Congress not to discuss a controversial judicial reform scheduled to be taken up by lawmakers the first week of September, according to a legal document reviewed by Reuters on Saturday.

The judicial reform, pushed by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has generated tensions with the United States and has sparked concern in global financial markets.

The order to temporarily block lawmakers from debating and voting on the reform was issued by District Judge Martha Eugenia Magaña López in the Mexican state of Morelos, in response to concerns about judicial workers' labor rights.

The reform would see around 7,000 judges, magistrates and justices elected by popular vote, lower experience and age requirements and reduce the size of the nation's top court.

Proponents say it will improve democracy and help fix a system that no longer serves the public, but critics say it will cut off judges' careers, skew power to the executive and open the judiciary to criminal influence.

The judge's order issued on Saturday would prohibit lawmakers in the Lower House of Congress from discussing the reform until September 4, when the judge will rule on whether to issue a permanent suspension.

Congress has ignored similar orders from judges in the past, leading to doubt as to whether the lawmakers will heed the judge's order or take up the reform anyway.

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar has expressed strong criticism of the proposed judicial overhaul, calling it a "major risk to the functioning of Mexico's democracy." Canada's government has also criticized it.

Lopez Obrador said earlier this week that he had paused relations with the Canadian and U.S. embassies in the country over their criticisms, which he said disrespected Mexico's sovereignty. He stressed the pause was only with the embassies, and not with the countries.

The ruling Morena party and its allies hold a two-thirds supermajority in the lower house and are one seat short in the Senate.


Why is Mexico’s judicial reform plan so controversial?


By AFP
August 31, 2024

Mexico's outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wants judges to be elected by popular vote - Copyright AFP RALF HIRSCHBERGER
Yussel Gonzalez

Judicial reforms championed by Mexico’s outgoing president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and supported by his incoming successor have sparked diplomatic tensions with the United States and upset financial markets.

Here are the key points of the proposals, which will be debated in the ruling-party-dominated Congress, due to convene on Sunday:



– What’s the plan? –



Lopez Obrador wants Supreme Court and other judges and magistrates to be elected by popular vote, arguing that the judiciary now serves the interests of the political and economic elite.

Candidates would be proposed by the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government.

At present, Supreme Court justices are nominated by the president and ratified by the Senate.

Judges and magistrates are appointed by the Federal Judicial Council, an administrative body.

The proposals, which are supported by president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, who will take office on October 1, would reduce the number of Supreme Court judges from 11 to nine.

Their terms of office would be shortened from 15 years to 12.

A new body would be formed to supervise judges, in a country where the rate of impunity — of being able to avoid accountability for crimes — stands at 99 percent, according to the non-governmental organization Impunidad Cero.

The system would have similarities to that of Bolivia, where members of the high courts are elected by popular vote.

Some states in the United States use elections to select judges. In Switzerland, judges are chosen by voters at the local level.



– Why the controversy? –



Opposition politicians, judges and judicial employees say that the reforms would politicize the justice system and compromise the separation of powers between the branches of government.

Margaret Satterthwaite, United Nations special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, has also voiced “deep concerns” about the plan’s “broad implications for judicial independence across Mexico.”

“I urge the authorities to carefully reconsider the proposal, giving appropriate weight to the human rights guarantee of judicial independence,” she wrote on social media platform X.

Human Rights Watch urged lawmakers to reject what it called the “dangerous proposals,” saying they would “seriously undermine judicial independence and contravene international human rights standards.”

The New York-based rights group expressed concern that the reforms would also eliminate restrictions on the military carrying out civilian law enforcement.

“Given Mexico’s long history of serious human rights violations and official cover-ups, legislators should be taking steps to strengthen human rights protections, not weaken them,” it said.



– What’s the diplomatic fallout? –



US Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar has warned that the changes would “threaten” a trade relationship between the neighboring countries that “relies on investors’ confidence in Mexico’s legal framework.”

The reforms could pose “a major risk to the functioning of Mexico’s democracy,” he told journalists.

In particular, they could “make it easier for cartels and other bad actors to take advantage of politically motivated and inexperienced judges,” Salazar said.

Canada, also a member of the major free trade partnership with the United States and Mexico, has for its part said investors are worried.

“They want stability, they want a judicial system that works if there are problems,” Canadian Ambassador Graeme Clark said.

In response, Lopez Obrador announced a “pause” in relations with the US and Canadian embassies, criticizing the ambassadors’ statements as “interventionist.”



– Why are markets nervous? –




Several investment firms have warned that curbing the independence of the judiciary would affect the resolution of conflicts between the government and the private sector.

The changes would “lead to heightened uncertainty” about the legal operating environment, British consultancy firm Capital Economics wrote in a note to clients.

“The politicization of the justice system could raise concerns about whether disputes between businesses and the government would be resolved in an impartial manner,” it said.

Since Sheinbaum, a close ally of Lopez Obrador, won a landslide election victory June 2, the Mexican peso has fallen by around 16 percent against the dollar.

The drop reflects “concerns about the country’s economic stability… and also the perception of risk that foreign investors are beginning to attribute to Mexico,” Ramse Gutierrez, co-director of investments at asset manager Franklin Templeton, told AFP.

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