Mexico ratifies contentious judicial overhaul

What happened

Mexico has amended its constitution to make all judgeships elected positions, a controversial judicial overhaul pushed by outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The Senate approved the amendment early Wednesday, after an opposition lawmaker defected and protesters stormed the Senate chamber, and a majority of Mexico's 32 states then ratified it over the next 36 hours. "With now 18 approving it, well, now it’s legal," Lopéz Obrador said yesterday morning.

Who said what

The constitutional amendment is the "most far-reaching judicial overhaul ever attempted by a large democracy," The New York Times said, and it puts Mexico on an "untested course whose consequences for the courts and the country are nearly impossible to predict."

Supporters of the amendment — including López Obrador, a "populist long averse to independent regulatory bodies who has ignored courts and attacked judges" — argue it will make judges accountable to the people and "crack down on corruption" and nepotism in a judicial system "most Mexicans agree is broken," The Associated Press said. Critics say it will "deal a blow to checks and balances and make it easier for cartels and criminals to influence the courts."

What next?

López Obrador said he will sign and publish the constitutional amendment on Sunday, the eve of Mexico's Independence Day. His successor and protégé, President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, takes office Oct. 1. The plan is for Mexicans to elect all nine Supreme Court justices and about half of the country's 7,000 judges next June.

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