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Mexico’s top court announced Wednesday that a majority of its Supreme Court judges have handed in their resignations and refused to participate in upcoming elections, following the introduction of contentious judicial reforms.
The decision has raised concerns over the independence of the judiciary and the potential impact of these reforms on judicial impartiality.
Beginning next year, Mexico will stand alone on the global stage, allowing citizens to elect judges at all levels—a decision met with protests and strained international relations. The reform has spurred a fierce debate, with opponents fearing it could politicize the judiciary and weaken its independence.
Mexico’s Supreme Court announced that eight out of 11 justices, among them Chief Justice Norma Pina, have chosen not to participate in the June 2025 elections. The statement added that most of these resignations are set for August, potentially altering the court’s composition amid ongoing judicial changes.
The statement was made just as the Supreme Court readies itself to discuss a proposal to potentially nullify the upcoming elections for judges and magistrates, a decision that could reshape the country’s judiciary structure.
Emphasizing the limits of judicial authority, President Claudia Sheinbaum has stated that the court cannot lawfully overturn a constitutional amendment approved by Congress, highlighting her administration’s firm stance on the reform’s legitimacy.
“Eight people intend to change a reform about the people of Mexico… Do they realize the magnitude?” she told a news conference Wednesday.
A day earlier Sheinbaum suggested the judges’ real motive was to protect their retirement benefits.
“If they resign now, they will leave with all their retirement benefits,” Sheinbaum said. “If they do not resign now, they will no longer have their retirement benefits… which is a lot of money,” she added.
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Former president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who enacted the reforms in September before leaving office, argued the changes were needed to clean up a “rotten” judiciary serving the interests of the political and economic elite.
Critics fear that elected judges could be swayed by politics and vulnerable to pressure from powerful drug cartels that regularly use bribery and intimidation to influence officials.
During his six years in office, Lopez Obrador often criticized the Supreme Court, which impeded some of his policies in areas such as energy and security.
Since taking office as Mexico’s first female president on October 1, Claudia Sheinbaum, a loyal ally of Lopez Obrador, has firmly backed the government’s judicial reforms. Her support has been instrumental in advancing the reforms, though concerns linger regarding the judiciary’s future autonomy.
Diplomatic relations with the United States and Canada have been strained by the reforms, which have also rattled financial markets and sparked protests from judicial employees and other groups opposed to the new policies.
The United States expressed concern that the reforms could weaken investor confidence in Mexico’s legal system, a pillar of the cooperative economic relationship between the two nations.
