Mexico's contentious judiciary overhaul becomes law

Mexico passed into law Sunday a constitutional amendment remaking its entire judiciary, marking the most far-reaching overhaul of a country's court system ever carried out by a major democracy.

The results demonstrate the exceptional influence of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico, who championed the legislation. The victory of his allies in June elections afforded them substantial legislative majorities to advance the contentious proposal in the leader's final weeks in office. On the eve of Mexico's Independence Day, the measure was published in the government's official gazette, making it law.

The law shifts the judiciary from an appointment-based system, largely grounded in training and qualifications, to one where voters elect judges and there are fewer requirements to run. That puts Mexico onto an untested course, the consequences of which are difficult to foresee.

"Now it's different," López Obrador said in a video posted on social media Sunday night in which his successor, Claudia Sheinbaum, was seated next to him. "Now it's the people who rule, the people who decide."

Roughly 7,000 judges, from the chief justice of the Supreme Court down to those at local courts, will have to run for office under the new system. The changes will be put into effect gradually, with a large portion of the judiciary up for election in 2025 and the rest in 2027.

The government said the overhaul was needed to modernize the courts and to instill trust in a system plagued by graft, influence peddling and nepotism. Sheinbaum takes office on Oct. 1 and has fully backed the plan.

But the proposal was met fierce resistance from judicial workers, law experts, investors, judges, students, opposition legislators and other critics. López Obrador's vow to push it through kept financial markets on edge and caused a diplomatic spat with the US and Canadian ambassadors.

López Obrador first presented his idea of overhauling the judiciary last year. Angered by Supreme Court rulings that blocked some of his administration's plans, among them weakening Mexico's electoral watchdog agency and putting the National Guard under the military's control, he vowed to have judges and justices elected by popular vote. That move was seen as retaliation by some analysts.

"The judiciary is hopeless, it is rotten," he told reporters back then, calling on his supporters to give his political movement large majorities in Congress at the polls in order to pass the overhaul and change the constitution.

Despite protests and strikes by a range of groups including more than 50,000 judges and court workers over the past several weeks, the proposal passed easily through the lower house of Congress, in which the president's party, Morena, holds a supermajority. On Wednesday, the Senate narrowly passed it despite a delay caused by protesters forcing their way into the building.

By Thursday, the bill was approved by a majority of the 32 state legislatures, the final requirement before being published into law.

"Mission accomplished," Gerardo Fernández Noroña, president of the Senate, said Friday, announcing that the measure had been sent to López Obrador for publication.

Many Mexicans have expressed support for the measure, saying it would give them leverage in a court system that few trust.

According to government surveys, 66% of Mexicans perceive judges to be corrupt, and analysts say nepotism remains rife. A recent assessment found that about 37% of judicial officials have at least one family member working in the courts.

Now comes the complicated part.

The Senate will have to issue a call for candidates for the thousands of judgeships nationwide. And Mexico's electoral agency would have to start organizing the judicial elections. At some point, state legislatures would modify their local constitutions.

The plan is for voters next June to elect all Supreme Court justices, whose number would be reduced to nine; members of the newly created Disciplinary Tribunal; and about half of the country's 7,000 judges, with the rest elected in 2027. An average Mexican might have to sift through anywhere from hundreds to thousands of candidates when they vote.