634
submitted 6 days ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

Mexico is poised to amend its constitution this weekend to require all judges to be elected as part of a judicial overhaul championed by the outgoing president but slammed by critics as a blow to the country’s rule of law.

The amendment passed Mexico’s Congress on Wednesday, and by Thursday it already had been ratified by the required majority of the country’s 32 state legislatures. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he would sign and publish the constitutional change on Sunday.

Legal experts and international observers have said the move could endanger Mexico’s democracy by stacking courts with judges loyal to the ruling Morena party, which has a strong grip on both Congress and the presidency after big electoral wins in June.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 19 points 5 days ago

So, the judges will have to campaign on the issues? Doesn't seem like the best idea if you want neutral and unbiased judges.

[-] lorty@lemmy.ml 10 points 5 days ago

Like the unbiased judges appointed by politicians?

[-] GiddyGap@lemm.ee -2 points 5 days ago

There's already a system in place to hold politicians accountable.

[-] WanderingVentra@lemm.ee 3 points 4 days ago

How well had that worked for the US President's and their appointed Supreme Court justices which have been getting bribed in public without consequences? Unless you mean the guillotine...

[-] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 0 points 4 days ago

You can impeach all of them, including Supreme Court justices, within the framework of the law that has been set by elected representatives.

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 6 points 5 days ago

Do you want neutral judges or do you want judges that align with the popular view?

John Roberts spent his confirmation process convincing everyone he was a "neutral" balls and strikes judge. All his opinions are phrased to imply he is taking a rational and fact based approach to the law. Yet his decisions are all in favor of hard right positions.

Do you want a judge like that? Or do you want an "activist" judge that respects unions, defends abortion rights and voting rights, and curtails the power of private industry to subvert democracy?

[-] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 1 points 5 days ago

I want judges who base their rulings on the law and not their political views. In theory, laws adjust to the popular view over time. Judges should not be part of that adjustment.

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 7 points 5 days ago

the law and not their political views

The law is a consequence of political viewpoints. The issue of Roe, for instance, is decided by the interpretation of a basket of Constitutional rights and privileges.

If laws weren't up to ideological interpretation, we wouldn't need judges or lawyers to begin with. They'd just be clerks administration filed paperwork with predetermined outcomes.

[-] porous_grey_matter@lemmy.ml 6 points 5 days ago
[-] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 1 points 5 days ago

Maybe, maybe not. But blatantly giving up on neutrality by electing judges based on their political views does not help promote justice.

[-] GarbageShootAlt2@lemmy.ml 2 points 4 days ago

Between these two options:

  1. indulging in the delusion of neutral judges and letting the elite pick the ones who do the best job of pretending to be neutral while representing their interests

  2. discarding the illusion of neutral judges and picking ones who openly state (and ideally have a record) that they will seek to pursue and enact justice as both they and the better part of the population interpret it

I think one of these is clearly superior for "promoting justice". Do you disagree?

[-] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 1 points 4 days ago

Yes, I disagree. I already stated why.

[-] GarbageShootAlt2@lemmy.ml -1 points 4 days ago

But you yourself admitted that there may be no such thing as "neutral," "apolitical" justices. If there aren't, what good does pretending do?

[-] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 2 points 4 days ago

Where did I "admit" that? I said maybe, maybe not. Campaigning on the issues will lock judges into their biases. It will never work well.

[-] GarbageShootAlt2@lemmy.ml -1 points 4 days ago

I said

admitted that there may be

Which is what you said. I characterized your statement correctly.

Campaigning on the issues will lock judges into their biases.

What does this mean? Everyone has biases, I don't see how campaigning matters for that. Do you mean, perhaps, that it prevents judges from changing for branding purposes? Because that objection has two serious problems: 1) what the public wants will change over time and 2) people should do what they're elected to, so what does it matter if someone keeps getting elected for maintaining the same popular platform?

this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2024
634 points (99.4% liked)

World News

38554 readers
2721 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS