MEXICO CITY (AP) 鈥� The lower house of Mexico鈥檚 Congress approved contentious legislation Wednesday that would launch the most sweeping judicial overhaul of the century by requiring all judges to stand for election.
In a marathon session in which legislators were forced to meet in a gymnasium the lower chamber approved the constitutional measure 359-135 in a party-line first vote. The measure, which requires a two-thirds majority, was expected to pass by a similar margin in a necessary second-round vote later Wednesday before going to the Senate.
Mexico鈥檚 ruling party says judges in the current court system are corrupt, and wants the country鈥檚 entire judicial branch 鈥� some 7,000 judges 鈥� to stand for election.
Critics say the constitutional changes would deal a severe blow to the independence of the judiciary, and they question how such massive elections could be carried out without having drug cartels and criminals field their own candidates.
President Andr茅s Manuel L贸pez Obrador has long railed against courts that blocked some of his building projects and policy measures because they ran afoul of constitutional and legal norms. The president has vowed for months to rush through a raft of measures like the judicial overhaul 鈥� as well as a proposal to eliminate almost all independent oversight and regulatory agencies.
The vote was expected to be extremely tight in the Senate, though the president鈥檚 party looked poised to win over the single vote it lacked there. If passed by the Senate, the constitutional proposal would be sent to Mexico's 32 state congresses where it must be approved by most of them. L贸pez Obrador's party controls a majority of the states.
Critics say the measure will devastate Mexico's system of checks and balances.
鈥淲e should inaugurate a wall of shame that says: 鈥楾oday begins the fall of our Republic.鈥� And it should have the date and all the faces of the Morena congressmen,鈥� shouted Paulina Rubio Fern谩ndez, a PAN congresswoman, before the vote.
The vote Wednesday was made possible by L贸pez Obrador鈥檚 Morena party and its allies winning overwhelming majorities in the June 2 elections.
The all-night session came after protesters blocked the entrance to Mexico鈥檚 Congress on Tuesday in an attempt to demand debate on the .
The overhaul has fueled a wave of protests by judges, court employees and students across Mexico in recent weeks, and reached another inflection point on Tuesday when protesters strung ropes across entrances to the lower house of Congress to block legislators from entering. That came as the country鈥檚 Supreme Court voted 8-3 to join strikes, .
鈥淭he party with the majority could take control of the judicial branch, and that would practically be the end of democracy,鈥� said protester Javier Reyes, a 37-year-old federal court worker. 鈥淭hey want to own Mexico.鈥�
Under the current system, judges and court secretaries, who act as judges鈥� assistants, slowly qualify for higher positions based on their record. But under the proposed changes, any lawyer with minimal qualifications could run, with some candidacies decided by drawing names from a hat.
Mexico鈥檚 courts have long been plagued by corruption and opacity, but in the last 15 years they have been subject to reforms to make them more open and accountable, including changing many closed-door, paper-based trials for a more open, oral-argument format.
Voices both at home and abroad say the new changes could mark a setback in the effort to clean up courts.
U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar said Tuesday that 鈥渢here is a great deal of concern,鈥� claiming the changes 鈥渃ould damage relations a lot, and it鈥檚 not just me saying that.鈥� Salazar has pointed to the election of judges as his main qualm with the overhaul, noting that it would negatively affect investment and the Mexican economy.
L贸pez Obrador said last week he has put relations with the United States and Canadian embassies over the proposed judicial overhaul.
President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, L贸pez Obrador鈥檚 close ally, on Tuesday night once again defended the reform, writing on the social media platform X that it 鈥渄oes not affect our commercial relations, nor national or foreign private investments. On the contrary, there will be more and better rule of law and more democracy for all.鈥�
鈥淚f judges, magistrates, and ministers are elected by the people, where is the authoritarianism?鈥� she added.
The proposed changes would cover about 7,000 judges at various levels and would introduce a time limit for judges to rule on many cases to combat a tendency for some trials to stretch out over decades. More controversially, the reforms would also introduce 鈥渉ooded judges鈥� to preside over organized crime cases; their identities would be kept secret in order to prevent reprisals.
And the courts would be largely stripped of their power to block government projects or laws based on appeals by citizens. It would also almost certainly assure that the president鈥檚 party continues with significant political power long after L贸pez Obrador leaves office at the end of this month.
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