SCJN elects members of the PJF Evaluation Committee

Mexico City. Between disarray in the process, lack of consensus and confusion, the Plenary Session of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) elected this Thursday the five people, three women and two men, who will make up the Evaluation Committee of the Judicial Branch of the Federation (PJF), which will be the first filter to choose candidates for judges, magistrates and ministers to compete in a popular election in 2025.

Due to the lack of consensus, seven rounds of voting had to be carried out, in which Mónica González Contró, Emma Meza Fonseca, María Emilia Molina de la Puente, Wilfrido Castañón León and Luis Enrique Pereda Trejo were elected. Three of them have judicial careers and two are academics.

For the vote, each minister proposed three candidates, but only Lenia Batres Guadarrama, Yasmín Esquivel Mossa and Loretta Ortiz made the names public. None of their proposals, including María Estela Ríos, AMLO’s former legal advisor, was elected.

General Agreement 4/2024 of the Bases for the integration and operation of the Committee stipulates that the members had to be elected by a minimum of eight votes each, that is, a qualified majority of the Plenary.

However, in the first two rounds, one for women and one for men, no one reached the minimum, which generated confusion among ministers because the Agreement did not contemplate tie-breaking votes.

“The majority of eight votes was not reached. In this case, the agreement does not require tie-breaking rounds but will be resolved by this Plenary Court. In this case, I propose that we carry out an exercise to see if, taking into account the same results, we can achieve the majority of votes with the same candidates,” said Minister Norma Piña.

In the case of women’s elections, four rounds were held. In the second round, Mónica González Contró, director of the Legal Research Institute of the UNAM, and Emma Meza Fonseca, judge of the Ninth Collegiate Criminal Court of the First Circuit, won with nine and eight votes, consecutively.

“We would have two people who reach the majority of votes. The same agreement says that what is not foreseen will be resolved by the Plenary Court. I put it to your consideration, we carry out the exercise again or we determine that the vote is not carried out and the Evaluation Committee would not be integrated. It is up to you,” Piña asked, to which the majority accepted.

In the third round, María Emilia Molina de la Puente, president of the Mexican Association of AC Judges, was one vote away, so she was elected until the fourth round with nine votes.

“We will do the third and final round in an effort to try to integrate the Evaluation Committee,” said Piña.

Minister Luis María Aguilar suggested excluding those who had already reached eight votes, and Lenia Batres Guadarrama proposed that the ministers write down only one name of a candidate on the ballot, not two or three as they had done.

The Secretary General of Agreements, Rafael Coello Cetina, asked Piña if they were preparing new cards, while several of the ministers began to express their opinion at the same time.

Piña had to put order in a firm tone, addressing Loretta: “May I please?” she asked. The majority fell and Loretta was only heard saying “just vote for one person… these are the white cards.” Then there was silence. Loretta blushes and says thank you. (Laughs).

In order not to waste time, Piña asked the secretary to cross out the names of the two elected women on the cards, so as not to make a mistake.

In the case of the men’s elections, three rounds were held, repeating the same method. Wilfrido Castañón León, magistrate of the Collegiate Civil Matters Court of the First Circuit, won in the second vote with eight ministers’ support, while Luis Enrique Pereda Trejo, member of the Board of Directors of the Mexican Bar Association won in the third vote with 10 votes.