As part of the implementation of the constitutional reform in judicial matters, published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on March 11, 2021, the Congress of the Union approved the laws and reforms aimed at reorganizing the structure and operation of the Judicial Branch of the Federation.
The bill approved by the legislators contemplates the issuance of the Organic Law of the Federal Judicial Branch and the Judicial Career Law of the Federal Judicial Branch. It also amends, adds to and repeals various provisions of the Amparo Law, the Federal Public Defense Law, the Federal Code of Civil Procedures, the Federal Law of Workers in the Service of the State, which regulates Article 123(b) of the Constitution, and the Law Regulating Sections I and II of Article 105 of the Constitution.
As part of the amendments approved by the Congress of the Union, the following is included (i) the incorporation of the Disputes Commission of the Federal Judiciary related to labor disputes, (ii) the creation of the Public Defender’s Institute and the training of the Institute’s officials by the Federal Judicial Training School, (iii) adjustments to focus the competence of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation on matters of exceptional interest in constitutional or fundamental rights matters, as well as to move from a system of jurisprudence of reiteration of criteria to one of binding precedents, and (iv) the substitution of Unitary Circuit Courts for Collegiate Courts of Appeal.
According to their authors, the intention of these laws and reforms is to strengthen actions aimed at combating nepotism, discretionality, sexual harassment and corruption within the Federal Judicial Branch, to guarantee the independence, impartiality, suitability, stability, professionalization and specialization of public servants, and to provide the tools to achieve an adequate administration of justice.
One of the points of the legislative process that has caused the most controversy was the incorporation of a transitory article which provides that, in order to implement the constitutional reform to the Judicial Branch of the Federation and the regulatory laws corresponding to such reform, the current president of the Supreme Court of Mexico and of the Federal Judiciary Council will extend his term of office until November 30, 2024, the current president of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation and of the Council of the Federal Judiciary will extend the duration of his term of office until November 30, 2024, in the understanding that the term for which Minister Arturo Zaldívar was elected will run from January 2, 2019 to December 31, 2022. Various sectors of society have expressed their opposition to this extension of the term of office, considering it unconstitutional. In this regard, we expect that the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation will conduct the corresponding analysis of such transitory article through the action of unconstitutionality that will be filed against it, once the mentioned laws and reforms are published by the Executive in the Official Gazette of the Federation.
