Ready, judicial reform opinion with 100 changes

The Constitutional Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies presented last night the draft opinion of the judicial reform, which includes more than 100 changes to the initiative of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the most relevant regarding the election by popular vote of judges, magistrates and ministers, which will be gradual in the case of the former and with staggered periods in the case of the members of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation.

The reduction of the number of ministers from 11 to nine, as proposed by the Executive, will be maintained, and the new judges will be elected in an extraordinary election, organized by the National Electoral Institute on the first Sunday of June 2025, for periods of eight, 11 and 14 years. In the contest, five will be women and the president of the Supreme Court will obtain the largest number of votes.

Regarding the positions of judges and magistrates, only half of them, about 800, will be put to the ballot in this extraordinary election in 2025, and vacancies and early retirements will be included. In 2027, in an ordinary election, the remaining 50 percent of judges and magistrates will be selected by citizens, also under gender equality.

The five current members of the Superior Chamber of the Electoral Tribunal of the Judicial Branch of the Federation will remain in office until the 2027 election, when the new magistrates will be selected for six years. The current ones will not participate and those from regional chambers will be elected in 2025.

The coordinators of Morena, PT and PVEM in the Chamber of Deputies, Ignacio Mier, Reginaldo Salazar and Carlos Alberto Puente, accompanied by the president of the Constitutional Affairs Committee, Juan Ramiro Robledo, made the announcement and specified that the draft opinion will be under discussion in the coming days and will be voted on in San Lázaro in two weeks.

Contribution from discussion forums

Ignacio Mier stressed that 60 percent of the changes to the presidential initiative were made based on contributions that arose during the forums for discussion of the reform, in which different bodies of the Judiciary participated, specifically 66 people.

He said that the draft ruling also includes changes that address concerns about the criteria for selecting judges. The new draft establishes that judges, magistrates and ministers who decide to participate in the election process may participate without any evaluation requirements.

For candidates who are applying for the first time, there will be evaluation committees in each of the branches of government, that is, in the Executive, the Supreme Court and Congress, which will verify that they meet the requirements for experience, track record, integrity and good name.

Deputy Mier specified that in the event that a greater number of candidates than planned is presented –30 in the case of ministers–, those who obtain the highest scores will be selected and in the event of a tie, a draw will be made, giving preference to women. It will be, he said, a transparent process, without influence, in which judges will compete for a promotion –going from judge to magistrate– and secretaries, who are those who do the work in the courts.

In this regard, Juan Ramiro Robledo explained that judges, magistrates and ministers who are elected will undergo two evaluations. One before participating – from which current judges will be exempt – and another one year after taking office, which could remove them if they perform poorly.

Deputy Mier also stated that the tenth transitory article clearly establishes that the acquired rights of the workers of the Judicial Branch, nor their retirement benefits, included in two trust funds for health and supplements to their benefits and salaries, will not be violated.

The draft opinion establishes that the Judicial Council will continue to exercise its powers and attributions of surveillance and discipline while the disciplinary court and the judicial administration body are created.