Rebuilding from the Ruins: Ministers Esquivel and Battery Share Their Battle Scars and Vision for a Stronger Justice System

Minister Lenia Batres said in an interview with “Los Periodistas” that today is a historic victory that opens the door to rebuild a democratic Judicial Branch. In turn, Minister Yasmín Esquivel said in the same space that it is not about “winners and losers, but rather the rule of law continues and the Constitution continues.”

Mexico City, November 5 (However).— The ministers Yasmín Esquivel Mossa and Lenia Batres Guadarrama They report how this Tuesday’s session, the project of the Minister Juan Luis González Alcántara Carrancá was trying to invalidate part of the Judicial Reform“it was a very strong fight” where “there were interests in invalidating” what has already been established in the Constitution.

“It was a strong session of sharp debate, not the clearest it could be, but it was a very intense debate,” said Minister Lenia Batres in an interview with the “Los Periodistas” program on SinEmbargo Al Aire. “In legal arguments there are usually many of these rations which are often called nonsense, that is not new, what is very important is that today they have not been held.”

The Plenary Meeting of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) this afternoon rejected the project of Minister Juan Luis González Alcántara Carrancá on the constitution of the Judicial Reform, with which the election of judges, magistrates and ministers will continue. During the session, Minister Alberto Pérez Dayán announced that he would not support the proposal of the majority, and Minister President Norma Piña Hernández tried to validate it with six votes instead of the eight required for a qualified majority of 11 members.

Minister Yasmín Esquivel told “Los Periodistas” that Minister Pérez Dayán is consistent with his vote since 2016, when he said that unconstitutional actions are unacceptable. “In 2016, when Movimiento Ciudadano and Morena presented an unconstitutional act, they said it was unacceptable, now several of the ministers changed their criteria and said that it is always appropriate to review constitutional amendments in this type of unconstitutional acts,” he expressed.

“The approach presented after the break is that eight votes would no longer be required to invalidate the Constitution, but only six because that is what the text of the Reform of the Judicial Power states. With eight it is already very serious to invalidate the Constitution, but it would have been more serious with six votes, great irresponsibility, fortunately that step was not taken, it was decided that only eight votes were needed and the block that wanted to annul. the reform only reached seven. Indeed, the Constitution says with six votes but with an integration of 9 ministers, but with the integration of 11 that we have today, we definitely need eight votes,” explained the Minister.

In that sense, Minister Lenia Batres indicated that she imagined there could be a dissenting vote which could be the fourth. “That was in the calculations,” he said. “There was also the possibility that if they carried out the necessary vote to invalidate the constitutional amendment improperly, a very simple one was to vote on it again in Congress, not that it was an irreversible solution.”

“We must be very happy, today’s victory is historic and gives us the opportunity to rebuild a democratic, transparent Judiciary that responds to, among others, the social needs of the population,” he said.

Yasmín Esquivel said in turn that it is not possible in such a relevant matter to be changing their own precedents. “There were definitely interests in invalidating this Judicial Reform and fortunately it did not happen this day in the Supreme Court. This is a matter of the greatest relevance because what is intended is to have justice within the reach of Mexicans, we have a historical debt in matters of justice, I believe that this reform is what opens the gap for others to become later than our judicial. system. It is important that this reform moves forward in the terms proposed by the Constituent Assembly.”

However, Minister Esquivel explained that we cannot talk about winners and losers, as it is necessary to “seek harmony, stop the conflict, move forward along this path of reforming the Judiciary so that Mexico does well, we do not want to have polarization What we want progress to be done in the right direction and in harmony. “We will not talk about winners and losers, but rather that the rule of law continues and the Constitution continues.”

Alejandro Páez Varela and Álvaro Delgado Gómez