(Bloomberg) — Justices of Mexico’s Supreme Court have decided to join labor protests against President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s proposal to overhaul the justice system, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.
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The decision was approved on Tuesday by eight votes to three, the source said, a day after top court employees also joined the strike.
If Lopez Obrador’s reform is adopted, all Mexican judges would be elected by popular vote, including the Supreme Court, a move critics say would endanger democracy.
The proposal will be debated late Tuesday afternoon in the lower house, where the ruling Morena party has more than a two-thirds majority. The session will be held in a sports center because protesters have blocked access to the legislature.
New protesters have also gathered outside the new location, blocking a major highway in Mexico City, El Financiero reported.
Although the strikes that began last month are nationwide, they have not affected all judicial proceedings and urgent cases are continuing as usual with staff in all courts, said Judge Juana Fuentes Velazquez, head of JUFED, one of Mexico’s main associations of legal workers leading the protests.
If the plan is approved, it will be ready to be debated in the Senate, where the governing coalition needs just one more vote to reach the supermajority needed to pass the plan. The Senate debate could take place as early as Thursday.
Backlash from judges
The plan is a priority for the president known as AMLO, who has characterized it as a way to root out judicial corruption and wants to secure its approval before he leaves office in late September. But it has drawn a backlash from judges, the Mexican opposition, investors and the U.S., all of whom say it will undermine judicial independence and give the ruling party control over the judiciary, eliminating checks and balances.
Morena and allies say they have the necessary quorum to begin debating the reform on Tuesday, while some opposition lawmakers have arrived at the sports center, the newspaper Reforma reported. Lawmakers from the main opposition party, PAN, will decide whether to attend, a communications official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the discussions are private.
–With assistance from Cyntia Barrera Diaz.
(Updated with new developments, background information from the fifth paragraph.)
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