Mexico is barrelling ahead with one of the world’s most radical shake-ups of a legal system, alarming investors and citizens alike. In his final month in office, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is using his coalition’s congressional supermajority to ram through constitutional changes to change the entire supreme court and several thousand state, federal and appeal court judges with replacements elected by popular vote. Candidates for some posts will need only a law degree, five years of undefined “legal experience” and a letter of recommendation from anyone in order to run.
Though some countries, including the US, elect some local or state judges, few invite voters to pick federal or supreme court justices. Selecting top legal officials needs careful independent evaluation of their experience and qualifications, not their appeal to voters or the backing of a political party. In a country like Mexico with a history of corruption and widespread drug violence, such a plan is especially risky.
The US, Mexico’s biggest foreign investor and trading partner, is raising the alarm; the US Chamber of Commerce says the changes risk undermining the rule of law. Judges and court system employees have gone on strike in protest. The peso has fallen around 15 per cent since Mexico’s June elections.