Mexico’s Supreme Court rejects latest effort to limit judicial review

MEXICO CITY (AP) – Mexico’s Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a proposal to reduce the scope of a contentious judicial review making all judges stand for election.

The failed effort would have required only Supreme Court justices to run for election instead of all judges in the country, as mandated in a constitutional amendment approved in September.

Seven of 11 justices voted to limit the scope, but a special majority of eight was needed.

In a statement, the court emphasized that the decision did not concern the validity of the judicial review, but only dismissed the challenges from the opposition political parties.

The decision came a week later eight judges resigned saying they will leave the court rather than run in the judicial elections scheduled for next June.

The court’s three other judges have indicated they will contest the election.

Last week, Mexico’s Congress and a majority of state legislatures approved another constitutional amendment protects constitutional amendments from legal challengesbut the Supreme Court said it did not apply in this case because the appeals were made before the passage of that amendment.

Before Tuesday’s decision, thousands of people protested outside the court.

The judicial review has raised concerns in Mexico and abroad about the weakening of the separation of powers and the rule of law. Critics say that if all judges stand for election, it will politicize the judicial system.

President Claudia Sheinbaum said the initiative promoted by her predecessor, former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who frequently clashed with the court, would rid the courts of corruption.

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