“The fines in an amparo trial against the authorities who do not want to comply with the suspension are attacked through a complaint appeal heard by a collegiate court or the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), not the Electoral Court, it is not an authority.” appeal in amparo trials,” said Judge Juan José Olvera López.
“Hence, the opinion of the Electoral Court is like the calls to mass, those who want it, follow it and those who don’t, don’t. Those who have to follow the decisions of the judges who imposed the fines,” he added.
He emphasized that, if there were no appeals against the fines imposed and they were not revoked, they must be complied with because “there is no alternative”. This is because Judge Francisco Javier García Contreras fined the advisors of the National Electoral Institute (INE) for disobeying a provisional suspension to stop the preparations for the electoral process of the Judiciary.
The magistrate emphasized that the TEPJF’s decision is only an “opinion” that does not release the Senate of the Republic from responsibility for continuing with the process of electing judges, magistrates and ministers in June 2025.
“Today, whether you like it or not, part of the Mexican legal system (is) that (the authorities) can be sued and right now they are being sued. Part of the measures that have been imposed on them is: ‘you cannot continue. On Friday, one of the multiple judges said that he had already imposed personal fines on the counselors and, if they persist, another fine will follow and if they persist, they may incur a crime. As long as this attempt to ignore these suspensions persists, judges would have to comply with their obligation to sanction up to the limit of criminal proceedings,” he mentioned.
In the same sense, Judge Edna Lorena Hernández Granados pointed out that amparo trials can only be resolved by constitutional judges, therefore, she emphasized, the Electoral Tribunal is not competent whether a suspension is followed or not.
“Any authority thus constitutionally established, without competence to act, cannot give an opinion or the opinion will remain what it is: an opinion,” he stated.
