Eight of Mexico's 11 Supreme Court justices submitted their resignations on Wednesday, rejecting controversial judicial reforms.
The reforms, pushed by former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, were fast-tracked by both chambers of Congress, where the ruling Morena Party holds a majority, and signed into law on September 15.
The opposition tried to fight the law to no avail, resulting in most Supreme Court judges resigning, including the court's president, Justice Norma Pina.
Pina, elected as the first female president of the Supreme Court in January 2023, was meant to lead the judicial branch until 2030.
'Cleansing' the court
She was one of the main counterbalances during Lopez Obrador's administration, hampering the passage of some of the president's decrees, resulting in friction between the ruling party and the judicial branch.
Following the Supreme Court's pushback to some of his legal initiatives, Lopez Obrador vowed to "cleanse" the court of what he labeled as corrupted judges in the service of political and economic elites, resulting in the judicial reforms.
"This resignation does not imply my agreement with the separation from the position for which I was originally appointed until December 10, 2030, but rather an act of consistency and respect for the constitutional text that currently governs us," Pina wrote in her resignation letter.
During her morning briefing on Wednesday, President Claudia Sheinbaum asserted that the eight judges resigned to keep their retirement benefits, "which is a lot of money."
Direct election
Mexico now becomes the only country in the world that has a law dictating that all judges must be directly elected by voters.
On June 1, 2025, the process for the election of judges, magistrates and judges of the Supreme Court will begin.
With their resignation, the eight judges have declined to participate in the election process.
One of the resignations will take effect in November and the rest next August.
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