Mexico launched a radical overhaul of its judiciary on June 1 with its first-ever judicial election. Some 2,600 federal and local judgeships, including the Supreme Court, were at stake. President Claudia Sheinbaum, whose party is set to be the big winner, pronounced the vote a success, despite an abysmal 13 percent turnout. The controversial plan was signed into law last September by former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who claimed the maneuver was necessary to root out corruption and nepotism. In reality, it risks weakening judicial independence, checks on presidential power, and democracy itself.
The following Journal of Democracy essays detail the dangers of the judicial reform, and the broader efforts by the Mexican executive to remove key democratic safeguards and erode the rule of law. Read for free now.
Mexico’s Democratic Disaster
The country’s outgoing president is determined to bulldoze Mexico’s judicial system. His attack on the rule of law is even worse than most people realize.
Amrit Singh and Gianmarco Coronado GraciIs Mexico at the Gates of Authoritarianism?
The country’s outgoing president relentlessly attacked Mexico’s democratic institutions, taking it to the brink of authoritarianism. His successor is poised to push its democracy over the edge.
Azul A. Aguiar Aguilar, Rodrigo Castro Cornejo, and Alejandro Monsiváis-CarrilloWhy Mexico Is Not on the Brink
Claudia Sheinbaum won Mexico’s presidency in a landslide, but celebration of her election as the country’s first female president was blunted by a deeper concern: Mexico’s deteriorating democracy. In truth, the country’s democratic institutions are highly resilient, and there is reason to be optimistic about what lies ahead.
Viridiana RíosCan Claudia Sheinbaum Emerge from AMLO’s Shadow?
She was just elected Mexico’s first woman president in a landslide. The future of Mexico’s democracy rests on whether she can break from her predecessor’s ways and carve her own democratic path.
León KrauzeHow Latin America’s Judges Are Defending Democracy
Can a strong, independent supreme court serve as a guarantor of democracy? In Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico, judges are showing a surprising resolve in fending off their countries’ antidemocratic forces.
Diego A. Zambrano, Ludmilla Martins da Silva, Rolando Garcia Miron, and Santiago P. Rodriguez
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Image credit: Santiago Reyes/ObturadorMX/Getty Images