Thousands of court workers and judges have gone on strike this week in Mexico as President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, commonly referred to as AMLO, seeks to implement a comprehensive reform of the country’s judicial system. Central to the proposed reforms is a controversial plan to elect federal judges—including Supreme Court justices and electoral magistrates—through direct public referendums. López Obrador has stated that this change is necessary to eradicate corruption. However, critics view this initiative as the latest attack in the ongoing tension between López Obrador and the judiciary.
Experts like Julio Rios Figueroa, a law professor at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, ITAM), warn that the reforms could undermine the separation of powers and destabilize the judicial system. “It will create administrative chaos and uncertainty in many areas,” said Rios Figueroa. He also emphasizes that the reforms could give López Obrador’s party, Morena, undue influence over the judiciary.
Following the party’s victory in the general elections on June 2, the Morena party has embarked on an ambitious effort to pass constitutional amendments before López Obrador’s term ends at the end of September. He will be succeeded by Claudia Sheinbaum, who is also from Morena and won the presidential election with a record number of votes.
The strike was called on Monday when unions representing about 55,000 legal workers expressed concern that the reforms would undermine merit-based positions within the courts. By Wednesday, Mexico’s association of federal judges and magistrates joined the protest after its leader, Juana Fuentes, warned against the extensive powers the reform would grant to López Obrador and Morena. “If this bill is passed, we will create a regime with absolute power concentrated in a single person,” Fuentes told The New York Times.
The strike comes just days after lawmakers from the ruling Morena coalition presented the reform plan in the lower house of Mexico’s Congress. Under Morena’s leadership, the party secured a supermajority in that chamber but just fell short in the Senate.
The plan includes the nomination of judicial candidates by the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, after which they will be reviewed by special committees to ensure that they meet the necessary qualifications. The candidates would then be presented for a public referendum. López Obrador, whose popularity remains high, has framed the reforms as a defense against corruption, accusing judges of succumbing to organized crime.
According to a 2023 government survey, nearly half of respondents had little to no confidence in the judicial system. At the same time, it was noted that crimes go unreported, and investigations are initiated in more than 92 percent of cases.
Despite this, López Obrador’s critics point out that the president has openly conflicted with judges over rulings that have not favored his policies. While they agree that reforming Mexico’s criminal justice system is necessary, experts like Rios Figueroa believe that López Obrador’s proposal is more populist rhetoric than effective policy. “This judicial reform is misguided, as it will not produce the results that the government claims, according to an overwhelming number of experts and practitioners,” Rios Figueroa stated. He identified several areas needing immediate reform in Mexico’s judicial system but believes that López Obrador’s proposal does not address them.
The proposed reform would require a constitutional amendment that needs a three-quarters majority in both chambers of Congress. The governing coalition led by the Morena party currently holds the necessary seats in the lower house but is likely to fall short in the Senate.
López Obrador dismissed this week’s strikes as “self-serving.” “Honestly and respectfully, I would say to them that [the strike] might even help us, because if the judges and magistrates are not working, then at least we have the guarantee that they are not letting criminals from organized crime go free,” he told reporters.
Rios Figueroa described the strike as a last resort, as the striking legal professionals hope to rally public opinion to block the reforms. “It is unlikely, but possible,” he concluded.