{"id":7266,"date":"2024-08-28T10:01:13","date_gmt":"2024-08-28T02:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=7266"},"modified":"2024-08-28T10:01:17","modified_gmt":"2024-08-28T02:01:17","slug":"mexicos-judicial-reform-could-be-a-headache-in-waiting-for-the-united-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=7266","title":{"rendered":"Mexico\u2019s judicial reform could be a headache-in-waiting for the United States"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"635\" height=\"359\" src=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/\u5fae\u4fe1\u622a\u56fe_20240828100010.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/\u5fae\u4fe1\u622a\u56fe_20240828100010.jpg 635w, https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/\u5fae\u4fe1\u622a\u56fe_20240828100010-300x170.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 635px) 100vw, 635px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mexican judges are raising alarms in the United States over President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s proposed judicial reform, which opponents see as a death knell for Mexican democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The radical reform package could also rattle the business and investment environment in Mexico, the United States\u2019s biggest trading partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The judges are mounting a last-ditch effort to shine an international spotlight on the reform package, counting on U.S. economic interests to attract attention to a concern likely to be overshadowed by a litany of domestic and international issues, from the U.S. election to the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under the proposal, Mexican federal judges would be elected by popular vote, something the country\u2019s existing judges say could directly affect U.S. interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf the reform were fulfilled and all the judges and magistrates were removed in a radical way in the next three years, it would not be possible to comply with our international obligations, specifically with chapter 23 of the [United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)],\u201d said Rogelio Alan\u00eds Garc\u00eda, a Mexican circuit court magistrate, referring to the treaty\u2019s chapter on labor disputes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alan\u00eds and fellow magistrate Michele Franco Gonz\u00e1lez on Monday called on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in Washington to evaluate whether the reform proposal would violate Mexico\u2019s bilateral and multilateral treaty obligations, filing a complaint signed by more than 1,100 Mexican federal judges and magistrates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf Mexico, in exercising its sovereignty, has the right to discuss and approve the legal reforms it considers pertinent, it must do so respecting the international agreements it has subscribed. Starting with the USMCA,\u201d said Martha B\u00e1rcena, who served as Mexico\u2019s ambassador to the United States from 2018 to 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The proposal has already created some cross-border tensions, as L\u00f3pez Obrador and President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum have criticized U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar, who said the reforms could \u201chelp cartels and other bad actors take advantage of inexperienced judges with political motivations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mexico on Friday sent a formal diplomatic complaint after Salazar asked for a dialogue on the reforms. L\u00f3pez Obrador and Sheinbaum have said they\u2019re open to dialogue \u2014 but not on internal affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yet North America\u2019s economic and social integration all but guarantees the reform package will reverberate beyond Mexico\u2019s borders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think there are three very important dimensions. The first one is about a democratic state in Mexico. And I think that with this reform, plus other things that have been happening in terms of how the National Electoral Institute (INE) has decreed the number of seats by proportional representation, Mexico is on the cusp of becoming an illiberal democracy with a hegemonic single party rule like in the good old days of the [Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)],\u201d said Arturo Sarukh\u00e1n, who served as Mexico\u2019s ambassador to the United States from 2007 to 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The expansive scope of L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s reform is only in the cards because his party, Morena, and its allies are on the verge of seating a near-supermajority when the new Congress convenes Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mexico\u2019s proportional representation system was built over decades to chip away at the single-party hegemonic rule under the PRI that dominated Mexican politics from 1929 to 2000, ensuring minority parties seats in both chambers of Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under that structure, a fraction of each chamber\u2019s seats is won by direct popular vote in each state or congressional district, and the rest are assigned depending on each party\u2019s overall performance in the general election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To prevent individual parties from gaining supermajorities through proportional representation, the constitution limits how many seats each party can be assigned relative to its performance at the polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s triparty alliance seems to have found a glitch in the system by spreading its winnings among the three parties, gaining 364 of 500 seats in the lower chamber \u2014 well above the two-thirds majority needed for constitutional reforms \u2014 and 83 seats in the 128-member Senate, just three votes short of a constitutional supermajority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still, Mexican democracy is an intangible, if important, asset in the U.S.-Mexico relationship. The reform\u2019s opponents say more immediate issues are at stake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNumber two, it has to do with organized crime. And organized crime, which as we saw in the 2021 midterm elections in Mexico \u2013 and particularly in states like Sinaloa in the northwest \u2013 organized crime whipped or suppressed the vote in favor of Morena, and with judges that would now have to compete in open elections for their bench, it puts a target on judges that can be either bought, intimidated or killed by organized crime,\u201d said Sarukh\u00e1n.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The third issue that has observers of the bilateral relationship on edge is the USMCA and elected judges\u2019 ability \u2014 and willingness \u2014 to rule fairly on disputes involving foreign investors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the judiciary overhaul is only one piece of L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s massive reform package for his last month in office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI believe the judicial reform impacts judicial certainty and the rule of law in Mexico, and therefore, it could affect the fundamentals on which USMCA was signed. But the proposal to disappear independent agencies is as grave as the judicial reform,\u201d said B\u00e1rcena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe combination of both proposals is a bigger threat to the rule of law, it hinders technical dialogue in fundamental issues of North American integration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mexico\u2019s Chamber of Deputies on Friday advanced a bill that would nix seven independent agencies, ranging from the country\u2019s public transparency and information access watchdog to its antitrust regulatory body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both L\u00f3pez Obrador and Sheinbaum have dismissed those criticisms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sheinbaum in particular pointed to the United States, where she said 43 states elect their judges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mexico\u2019s proposal to elect the federal judiciary would be much more expansive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Federal judges in the United States are nominated by the president and approved by the Senate. The 43 states that do hold judicial elections have a number of systems, including retention elections, where sitting judges essentially face recalls periodically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas), whose district borders Mexico, warned Sheinbaum and L\u00f3pez Obrador to be careful what they wish for, given Texas\u2019s experience with partisan judicial elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt certainly politicizes the court system. And you\u2019ll have judges actually campaigning on ideologies in order to get elected. In a perfect system we would have professional judges somehow nonpolitically appointed or elected who have been trained to execute the laws justly and blindly, not as conservative or progressive \u2013 we let the legislature do that,\u201d said Gonzalez.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mexican judges are raising alarms in the United States over President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s proposed judicial reform, which opponents see as a death knell for Mexican democracy. The radical reform package could also rattle the business and investment environment in Mexico, the United States\u2019s biggest trading partner. The judges are mounting a last-ditch effort [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":7267,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2674,2673,2248],"class_list":["post-7266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-judges","tag-mexico","tag-reform"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mexico\u2019s judicial reform could be a headache-in-waiting for the United States - LISTEN WORLD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=7266\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mexico\u2019s judicial reform could be a headache-in-waiting for the United States - LISTEN WORLD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mexican judges are raising alarms in the United States over President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s proposed judicial reform, which opponents see as a death knell for Mexican democracy. 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