Unanimously, the plenary session of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) invalidated the extension of the mandate of Arturo Zaldívar, as president of the Court.
In Tuesday’s session, the ministers voted that the transitory article 13 is unconstitutional, which extended by two years the term of the current president of the Supreme Court and the counselors of the Judiciary.
Read: Arturo Zaldívar will not accept extension of mandate; will leave the presidency of the Court in 2022
In the session, the ministers pointed out that the expansion “is contrary to articles 97 and 100 of the Constitution, “as well as the principles of constitutional supremacy, division of powers and judicial autonomy and independence.”
The ministers determined that such officials must leave office within the period originally determined at the time of their appointment.
On June 7, the decree issuing the Organic Law of the Judicial Power of the Federation was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation, which establishes the extension of the mandate until 2024 of the President Minister of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation.
The so-called ‘Zaldivar Law’, which also dictates the extension in other positions, is found in the thirteenth transitory Article.
Since its approval in Congress, this reform was questioned by the opposition to the government, calling it “an unconstitutional act.”
The legislators questioned that the reform on the extension of the mandate was included at the last minute, without giving an opportunity for it to be discussed in the Plenary of the Senate.
In addition to the opposition parties, some organizations spoke out against the reform, agreeing that the last-minute added reservation was a violation of the Constitution.
At the time, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he was in favor of the expansion and argued that Arturo Zaldívar ‘has helped moralize the Judiciary’, so he is the right person to carry out a reform.
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