From the Weapons Room of the Magdalena Mixhuca Sports Unit and surrounded by traffic chaos due to protests, Deputies from Morena, PT, PVEM approved in general the judicial reform so that Supreme Court ministers, magistrates and judges are elected by popular vote.
Once approved in general with 359 votes in favor after more than 10 hours of discussionthe legislators began with the particular discussion of 610 reservations presented mostly by the opposition.
The ruling party used its supermajority for the first time to approve President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s reform, amid criticism from the opposition for alleged violations of the legislative process and disregard for court rulings ordering the process to be halted.
The day began at 5 a.m. with the workers of the Judicial Branch blocking the accesses to the Legislative Palace of San Lázaro, an action that forced the Morena supporters to look for an alternative venue in a matter of hours. The chosen venue was the Sala de Armas de la Magdalena Mixhuca, a gymnasium located four kilometers from the headquarters of the Chamber of Deputies and which was provided by the Venustiano Carranza mayor’s office, governed by Morena.
It was at 10:29 a.m. when Congressman Ricardo Monreal Ávila, coordinator of the Morena bench, announced the venue where the discussion of judicial reform would take place.
Within hours, the Judicial Branch workers moved to the new headquarters, while law students insisted on speaking with the Morena bench; when the dialogue failed, they opted to block the Río de la Piedad Viaduct in both directions.
The current president of the Board of Directors, Sergio Gutiérrez Luna, opened the discussion at 5:00 p.m. and the long discussion began.
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The opposition tried to stop the debate by appealing to the suspension granted by two judges on Saturday and with suspensive motions, however, the majority insisted on the urgency of continuing with the reform process.
Already in the discussion, Congressman Monreal Ávila said that the reform was promoted by President López Obrador due to the interference of the judiciary in the work of the legislative branch, because the Court invalidated reforms such as those of the electricity and the National Guard and because of the corruption that he claimed prevails in the Judiciary.
The Morena coordinator criticized the opposition for defending the autonomy of the Legislative Branch in the past and now seeking to compel a judge who orders a halt to the discussion of the reform.
“It still saddens me how legislators who once defended the autonomy of the Legislative Branch defend the subordination of the Permanent Constituent Assembly to a judge. Where are those impeccable jurists of the right who would die again after hearing such twisted reasons? No. The Legislative Branch cannot be subject to any judge or authority other than our own,” said Monreal Ávila.
Deputy Juan Zavala, from the Citizen Movement, acknowledged that there are cases of corruption in the Judiciary and that the president of the Supreme Court, Norma Piña, has made mistakes in her political decisions. However, he said that “tens of thousands of exceptional Mexicans” who work in the judicial body should not pay for isolated cases.
“There has been corruption? No doubt. Abuses? Also. Some judges have overstepped their bounds in their use of suspensions? Yes. The president of the Court has been erratic in many of her calculations and political actions? That is also true,” he said.
The legislator warned of the risk of judges being elected by popular vote, saying that corruption will become a widespread practice.
“Because now that the administration of justice will be put up for auction, there will be a market to buy judges on call. Today there are surely some; with this reform, there will be almost all of them. Because we will have judges thinking about how to win votes and not how to do justice,” he said.
The PAN positioned itself against judicial reform with banners that included the slogans “#SoyResistencia” and “Without justice there is no future.”
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Representative Paulina Rubio, from the PAN, said that the reform is revenge by the President of the Republic against the judiciary and joined in warnings about the risk that judges being elected by popular vote represent.
The discussion of the reservations will conclude on Wednesday morning, as the improvised headquarters had to equip the Weapons Room to process the hundreds of changes proposed by the opposition.