Over 18,000 in Mexico register to run for Supreme Court seats and federal judges in new system

Supporters arrive to attend a rally in favor of the government's proposed judicial reform outside the Supreme Court building in Mexico City, Sept. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

MEXICO CITY -

More than 18,000 people in Mexico have registered online to run for Supreme Court seats and federal judgeships in the country's contentious new selection process, but a random drawing in the end will determine who gets on the ballot, officials said Monday.

The ruling party pushed through a constitutional reform in September to make all federal judges stand for election, replacing the system where court employees and lawyers mainly move up through the ranks.

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Current court employees and their supporters have staged dozens of demonstrations against the reforms, calling them part of a ruling-party campaign to weaken checks and balances and eliminate independent regulatory and oversight bodies.

Now, candidates for Supreme Court seats and federal judgeships need only a law degree, a grade point average of 3.2, “five years of professional experience” and five letters of recommendation from neighbors or friends. That, and some luck in the final drawing.

Officials rejected criticism that has called the process rushed or amateurish for the often highly technical posts that can hear cases including intellectual property, organized crime and Constitutional law.

“The results have been spectacular,” said Arturo Zaldivar, a top advisor to President Claudia Sheinbaum.

According to the plan, evaluation committees will have just over a month to review thousands of resumes and whittle the field to about 10 candidates or less for each for the 881 judgeships and nine seats on the Supreme Court.

Then 1,793 names chosen at random from those selected will appear on the ballot on June 1.

Critics warn that many who land on the ballot will be unknowns who perhaps have never argued a case in the courts they seek to run.

“You don’t elect a doctor or a surgeon for an operation based on their popularity, you elect them based on their technical expertise, their ability, their knowledge,” said Sergio Méndez Silva, the legal coordinator for the civic group Foundation for Justice. “That also applies for a judge.”

With candidates now having to run election campaigns, critics warn there's a chance drug cartels or political parties could finance them to get friendly judges onto the bench.

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There are also concerns that the evaluation committees deciding who makes the cut for the selection to appear on ballots may not be impartial. Most committee members were appointed by the legislative or executive branches, controlled by the ruling Morena party.

Some critics argue that the current justice system, which is riddled with nepotism, corruption and a lack of accountability, needs to be changed.

“We need a justice system that gives results,” said Martínez Garza, an academic and former head of the human rights commission in the northern border state of Nuevo Leon who has registered to run for a Supreme Court seat.

Trials in Mexico can last for years, and the ruling party has added to the growing list of crimes for which bail is not allowed, meaning that a large percentage of the prison population is people awaiting trial.