Almost half of judges can retire with more than $100,000 a month

Gustavo Castillo Garcia

The newspaper La Jornada
Sunday, September 22, 2024, p. 5

To convince about the relevance of shield Regarding the pensions of federal judges and magistrates who decide to retire when the judicial reform comes into effect, an attorney presented to the plenary session of the Judicial Council (CJF) a study that indicates that of the 1,719 justice administrators currently working, 747 (around 43 percent) are 55 years old or older, with the possibility of retiring with incomes of more than 100 thousand pesos per month. This would have two positive effects: the first, a fair retirementand the second, that It would help to keep many of the positions that will be voted for by popular vote vacant.sources from the Judiciary indicated.

The reform of the Judiciary, whose decree was published on September 15, provides that all judges will be elected by popular vote in two processes, the first in 2025 and the second in 2027. From then on, no one will receive salaries that exceed the income established for the President of the Republic.

Unanimously, at the proposal of Minister Norma Lucía Piña Hernández, in her capacity as president of the CJF, on September 11, the members of the latter signed an agreement that grants lifetime compensation, which will be added to the pensions granted by the Institute of Security and Social Services for State Workers (ISSSTE) and which will be 45 to 80 percent of the income granted by the institute.

As of July 31, 768 district judges and 951 magistrates worked at the CJF. The former have a net monthly salary of 139,210 pesos, and the magistrates, 152,531, according to the Summary of Relevant Information on Administrative Matters of the CJF 2024.

To ensure the effects of this armor Regarding the pensions of judges and magistrates, a paragraph was added to article 73 of the general agreement of the plenary session of the CJF, which establishes the general working conditions for circuit magistrates and district judges, to be as follows: retirement may be early when circuit magistrates or district judges have the possibility of requesting their voluntary retirement when they have one of the pensions granted in terms of the Institute’s Law. The above, provided that they have at least 25 years of service in the Judicial Branch of the Federation and have been ratified.

In this way, judges and magistrates benefit, since the ISSSTE Law only allows retirement pensions with a minimum age of 58 years for men and 56 for women.

But with its agreement, the CJF authorizes this benefit to those who are at least 57 years old and have 25 years of service, and the complementary pension can reach up to 52.5 percent if they have 35 years of service in the Judiciary.

The highest percentage of the supplementary pension (80) will be granted to those who are at least 65 years old and have 35 years of service.

Judges and magistrates, where are they?

According to information from the CJF, the largest number of positions for justice administrators are assigned to courts and tribunals in Mexico City, with 365. This does not mean that all positions have been filled by the end of August.

In second place is the state of Mexico, with 144, and in third place is Jalisco, with 122. They are followed by Nuevo Leon 72, Sonora 45, Puebla 69, Veracruz 64, Coahuila 58, San Luis Potosi 30, Tabasco and Coatzacoalcos 55, Michoacan 40, Sinaloa 48, Oaxaca 34, Yucatan 27, Baja California 60, Guanajuato 55, Chihuahua 52, Morelos 37, Tamaulipas 49, Chiapas 38, Guerrero 38, Queretaro 34, Zacatecas 22, Nayarit 24, Durango 17, Baja California Sur 16, Quintana Roo 28, Tlaxcala 19, Hidalgo 23, Aguascalientes 27, Campeche 17 and Colima 14.

With the reform, there are still pending issues to be defined, one of which will be if 50 percent of those who currently have a position (are ratified and meet the requirements to retire early) decide to join the program, then the other 50 percent will automatically stay until 2027, when they would have to compete in elections.

In the meantime, each of the circuits will have to reduce the number of heads of courts and tribunals to 50 percent through a selection process, and then register for the process that will be carried out by the commission of specialists who will be chosen by the three powers to examine those who prove to have the highest qualifications and from there emerge the candidates for the election.

The decree on the reform of the Judicial Branch states in this regard: The Powers of the Union will nominate the number of candidates that corresponds to each position.in accordance with the following clauses: “Each power will integrate an evaluation committee made up of five people recognized in the legal activity, who will receive the files of the applicants, evaluate compliance with the constitutional and legal requirements and identify the best evaluated persons who have the technical knowledge necessary for the performance of the position and have distinguished themselves by their honesty, good public reputation, competence and academic and professional background in the exercise of legal activity.

The best rated

The evaluation committees will compile a list of the 10 best-rated people for each position in the cases of ministers of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, magistrates of the superior chamber and regional chambers of the Electoral Tribunal and members of the Judicial Disciplinary Tribunal, and of the six best-rated people for each position in the cases of circuit magistrates and district judges. They will then refine said list by public drawing of lots to adjust it to the number of nominations for each position, observing gender parity. Once the lists have been adjusted, the committees will send them to the authority representing each branch of the Union for approval and submission to the Senate..