Mexico is poised to amend its constitution this weekend to require all judges to be elected as part of a judicial overhaul championed by the outgoing president but slammed by critics as a blow to the country’s rule of law.

The amendment passed Mexico’s Congress on Wednesday, and by Thursday it already had been ratified by the required majority of the country’s 32 state legislatures. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he would sign and publish the constitutional change on Sunday.

Legal experts and international observers have said the move could endanger Mexico’s democracy by stacking courts with judges loyal to the ruling Morena party, which has a strong grip on both Congress and the presidency after big electoral wins in June.

  • Stern
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    482 months ago

    No system is 100% resistant to shitters.

    Life appointment was supposed to get judges to focus on issues and not make decisions with re-election in mind. Supreme court in the U.S. has shown us how that is going.

    • @[email protected]
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      172 months ago

      Not necessarily. In Canada, an independent advisory board reviews applications and provides a shortlist of candidates. The Prime Minister selects a nominee from this list. The nominee may participate in a public hearing before being officially appointed.

      That is why it has not been a partisan issue so far.

      • @FrostyTheDoo
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        2 months ago

        The way US politics has gone the last 30 years, the advisory board would be politicized and polarized within 3 election cycles, no matter how the board itself is selected.

    • @Womble
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      102 months ago

      Thats a problem with political appointments by the president not life terms.

      • @MicroWaveOP
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        2 months ago

        Huh? All federal judges in the US (Supreme Court justices, court of appeals judges, and district court judges) are nominated.

        Even at the state level, it’s a mix of election and nomination based on the vacancy.