López Obrador calls for reforms after legislature extends Supreme Court Justice mandate

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, supported this Friday the controversial reform that contemplates the extension of the mandate of the head of the Supreme Court, Arturo Zaldívar because this way it will be possible to promote reforms within the Judiciary, which is “very bad”.

“I believe that a reform of the Judicial Power is needed and that if the president of the Supreme Court, Minister Zaldívar, heads this reform, there is a possibility of advancing in this sense,” said the president in the morning conference from the National Palace.

He said that “unfortunately” the Judicial Power is “evil” and attributed to past governments the existence of a “simulated Republic”, where all the institutional powers were “taken” by the same group.

All the officials were “co-opted”, he added, and in the case of Justice, most of them were judges, magistrates, and ministers.

“Reforms are needed. It is necessary to transform”, said the President, who said that in the Judicial branch, “the same thing would continue” if it were not for the current President of the Supreme Court.

The “conservatives” are the opponents of this reform, he remarked.

And he again attacked Judge Juan Pablo Gómez Fierro, who has granted injunctions against the electricity reform and against the obligation to register biometric data of cell phone users.

López Obrador reminded that opponents to his reforms can always “disagree” before the Judicial branch and declare that these are unconstitutional. “And if the autonomous bodies, the Judiciary or the Legislature do not allow it, then “nothing happens”, but we will be left with a “clear conscience”, he concluded.

The Mexican Congress approved this Friday a controversial reform of the Judicial Branch that includes the extension for two years of the presidency in the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) of Arturo Zaldívar, accused of being subservient to the current Government.

With 260 votes in favor, 167 against, and 2 abstentions, the Chamber of Deputies approved the Organic Law of the Federal Judiciary and the Judicial Career Law with a transitory article that extends Zaldívar’s term from 2022 to 2024, when Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s presidency ends.

The reform has provoked an enormous national and international controversy and has also caused strong disagreements within the ruling party itself, Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena).

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