Eight of 11 justices on Mexico’s Supreme Court have resigned and declined to participate in an election for the court scheduled for June, the court said on Wednesday.
The court’s president, Norma Pina, presented her resignation, as did Luis Maria Aguilar, Jorge Mario Pardo, Alfredo Gutierrez, Alberto Perez, Javier Laynez, Juan Luis Gonzalez and Margarita Rios.
Seven of the jurists’ resignations are effective August 31, 2025, while Aguilar will leave office on November 30.
The resignations are the result of a constitutional overhaul that was enacted last month that stipulates that judges be elected by popular vote.
The reform requires judges to resign ahead of the June election if they do not want to participate in the electoral process and wish to maintain their pension, or risk losing it, prompting an outcry among judicial workers.
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The slate of resignations heightens tensions between Mexico’s Supreme Court and the ruling bloc, increasing the risk of a constitutional crisis as Congress and the presidency remain at odds with the judiciary over the reform.
“It is necessary to underscore that this resignation does not imply an implicit acceptance of the reform’s constitutionality,” said justice Gutierrez in a resignation letter on Tuesday.
In her letter to the Senate on Wednesday, Rios said her resignation “should not be seen as an implicit endorsement of a (reform) framework that remains controversial.”
The 11-member Supreme Court will see its number reduced to nine as part of the reform. Three current justices have publicly backed the reform.
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.
Sheinbaum, a close ally of Lopez Obrador who became Mexico’s first woman president on October 1, strongly supported the judicial reforms.
The changes sparked diplomatic friction with key economic partners the United States and Canada, upset financial markets and prompted a series of protests by judicial workers and other opponents.
Reported by CNN
