“I hope that the purpose of this reform, for the good of Mexico, is not to destroy, but to build a better system for the protection of human rights; better control of constitutionality regularity; a better system of counterweights between the powers of the State, all of this for the benefit of society and our country, but this will only be seen over time, which will be when the reform can be appreciated and evaluated in its entirety,” he declared.
The minister recalled that when the Judicial Reform was presented in 2024, it became a widespread practice to “openly violate” the suspensions issued by federal judges, as well as threaten judges with criminal prosecution and political trials, because they resolved cases that politicians considered were going against their interests.
“What behaviors did those political actors consider that merited the persecution and punitive threat to the federal judges of Mexico? For resolving cases in ways that they considered contrary to their wishes and interests; for granting suspensions and precautionary measures that may or may not coincide in substance; for daring to admit means of defense brought by political minorities; for exercising our deliberative function as a constitutional court,” he declared.
The minister recalled that the delegitimization campaign against the ministers of the SCJN began six years ago in the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador in order to annul the autonomy of the Federal Judiciary.
“A review of the events, in the public domain, clearly shows how the campaign to annul the autonomy of the Federal Judiciary to subject it to electoral and partisan logic, intensified, even violently, when the SCJN and its members act as we should, as a Constitutional court, but the truth is that the delegitimization campaign against judges began 6 years ago,” he said.
He commented that the attempts to interfere with the federal judiciary reached the point that the Legislative Branch promoted a reform in 2021 to extend the mandate of the then president of the SCJN, Arturo Zaldívar, in order to make it coincide with the change of administration. six-yearly
The minister-president mentioned that the coincidences between attacks and threats to the ministers became “patent” when their decisions were contrary to the interests of the Morenoist government, as she recalled that they were called “traitors to the people” for invalidating the reform that transfers the National Guard to the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena), as well as the presidential decree that attempted to classify “priority” projects and works as public interest and national security.
“Every time the Supreme Court resolved one of those cases, the Ministers who voted against what the government perceived as contrary to its political project, were accused of being traitors, corrupt, allies of rapacious minorities and organized crime. and white collar, and even allegories were made on coffins of some of us. All of this for exercising our function as constitutional judges and facing society,” he mentioned.
He said that these types of campaigns against federal judges constitute threats to judicial independence, which represents an undemocratic practice.
“It is not just me, but also academia and international organizations, who warn that all these campaigns against federal judges constituted threats and attacks on judicial independence, and consequently, a dangerous anti-democratic practice. These behaviors are so serious that they were even cited by the UN Rapporteur on Judicial Independence as an example of the risks of autocratic governments against democracy,” he mentioned.
