The Supreme Court of Justice of Mexico plans to elect its new head on Monday amid the constant attacks of the president against the Judiciary and the controversy surrounding one of the applicants, accused of plagiarizing his bachelor’s thesis.
The person chosen among the 11 ministers will replace Arturo Zaldivar, considered a progressive judge but too close to President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and who was popular on social networks, for example, posting videos on TikTok.
All the aspirants to succeed Zaldivar bet in their public candidacies to reinforce the independence of the high court and achieve greater democratization in their internal decision-making.
The first of the points is considered key given the attacks by the president against the judges and the unsuccessful attempt by the ruling party to extend Zaldivar’s mandate for two more years.
Although the norm was approved by Parliament, the Court threw it back with the endorsement of Zaldivar himself, who also opposed extending his mandate.
Just before the vote on Monday, Lopez Obrador again questioned the Judiciary, which, he said, continues to be “kidnapped” by economic power and is taken over by conservatives.
The president indicated that one of his government’s pending tasks is to renew it because, although he tried, he said that of the four magistrates he proposed “two turned their backs on us.” democrats”.
The most controversial candidacy is that of Yasmin Esquivel, the only candidate who reached the high court proposed by this administration and who has been accused of copying her bachelor’s thesis.
Esquivel has insisted that she was the kidnapper, that the files of the institution where she studied were manipulated and that everything is a ruse to discredit her before her aspiration to preside over the high court.
The National Autonomous University of Mexico said that it is evident that there was plagiarism in one of the two theses published in the 1980s, but that more investigations were necessary to find out who copied whom.
Among the most notable votes during Zaldivar’s term, the decision of the Supreme Court to stop considering abortion a crime, to consider certain immigration reviews unconstitutional, and his pronouncement in favor of regulating the consumption of marijuana stands out.
Faced with these decisions, held by groups defending human rights, there were others highly criticized that were aligned with pro-government proposals such as the Court’s endorsement of the permanence of the Armed Forces in security work or the electricity law, questioned in court minors for limiting free competition.
Source: El Nuevo Herald
