( Spanish) –– A group of 50 law academics from different Latin American universities presented a technical opinion known as “friend of the court” before the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation of Mexico. amicus curia where they offer arguments against the controversial judicial reform recently decreed, after its approval by the Legislature at the initiative of the Government.
In the brief, a report presented by parties unrelated to a litigation but with an interest in the matter – as defined by the court itself – the specialists argue that “it is the appropriate time” for the Supreme Court to address judicial control of the constitutional reforms. , that is, to examine their validity for reasons of form or substance. They also raise the need for the Court to carry out judicial control of the procedures of the bodies with powers to reform the Constitution, and that in this case it would have to do so based on a “presumption of unconstitutionality.”
The analysis compares cases from Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador and Peru, where the constitutional courts of those countries exercised control over the constitutionality of several reforms.
For example, researchers propose that some of the changes in the Mexican reform do not offer “sufficient guarantees of independence, impartiality, capacity and professional integrity” in the Judiciary, so they are “much more radical and definitive” than some changes which in Colombia the Constitutional Court has invalidated “because it considers that they do not reform but rather replace the Constitution.”
The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation of Mexico approved on October 3 to review the reform of the Judicial Branch, which was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on September 15. By a majority of eight votes in favor and three against, the Plenary Session of the highest court admitted the constitutionality analysis requested by a group of judges and magistrates, positions that under this reform may be elected by popular vote starting in 2025. The project approved argues that the Court has the mandate to “ensure the autonomy and independence of the bodies and members of the federal Judiciary.”
The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, has rejected this review, considering that “it has no basis” and that judicial reform is not in danger. asked the Presidency and the Supreme Court for a reaction to the jurists’ presentation, but so far has not received a response.
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