• Judicial Reform Timeline
  • Challenges
  • Future reforms
    • Mexico judicial reform protest

    Citizens protesting Mexico's judicial reform. (AP)

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    Judicial Reform Timeline Challenges Future reforms

    A Timeline of Mexico's Judicial Reform and Elections 

    By Chase Harrison

    What can Mexicans expect from votes for judges in 2025 and 2027? What other constitutional amendments are on the horizon?

    With just one month left in his six-year-long presidential term, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, known as AMLO, notched another mark in his legacy when Congress approved his constitutional amendment that overhauls Mexico’s judiciary. That reform will see all of Mexico’s judicial positions—from the Supreme Court to district circuit courts—become elected, rather than appointed positions. That’s over 7,000 posts.

    Though AMLO proposed the reform in February, the initiative wasn’t introduced into Congress until September, when legislators elected in June took office. In just days, the reform had achieved a two-thirds vote in both houses and a majority of state legislatures approved it, ensuring its passage. During this period, Mexico’s judicial workers went on strike and protestors swarmed Congress, eventually storming the chambers.

    Now, preparations begin for the judicial elections promulgated by the reform, the first of which will be on June 1, 2025. The full rules for the contests are not yet set, but the elections, as proposed by the government, differ from typical Mexican votes. To start, the ballot design will feature nominees listed on the back and voters will then have to write their selections on the front.

    What are the key dates to know for the judicial reform and the judicial elections? And what other constitutional reforms may be on Mexico’s horizon? AS/COA explains.

    Judicial Reform Timeline

    February 5, 2024: AMLO submits a package of 18 constitutional amendments and two legal reform initiatives to Congress. The package is known collectively as Plan C. Prior attempts to reform the constitution, known as Plans A and B, failed to pass.

    June 3, 2024: Morena, AMLO’s party, wins in a landslide in general elections. Not only does the party’s nominee Claudia Sheinbaum capture 30 percent more of the vote than her closest rival, but Morena and its allies win a two-thirds majority in the Chamber of Deputies, just short of that in the Senate, and 27 of the 32 state legislatures. 

    August 19, 2024: Unions representing federal judicial workers announce the start of a strike to protest the reform. More than 55,000 judges and magistrates are party to the striking unions. The strike will continue at least through October 2, 2024.

    September 1, 2024: The new Congress takes office. The intention to debate the judicial reform is announced.

    September 2, 2024: Supreme Court workers join the judicial strike.

    September 4, 2024: The Chamber of Deputies approves the reform, after three days of debate, with 359 votes for and 135 against.

    September 8, 2024: President of the Supreme Court Norma Piña presents a counterproposal for judicial reform in a special broadcast.

    September 11, 2024: The Senate approves the reform, with 86 in favor and 41 against, after opposition Senator Miguel Ángel Yunes votes with the Morena coalition. This gives them the minimum number of votes they need to pass the reform.

    The session is marked by uncertainty over the votes of several key members. Yunes steps down from his position as senator for one day, on September 9, and his father, a former governor, stands in for him. Another senator, Daniel Barreda of the Citizens Movement (MC), goes missing for a period of time.

    The Senate sessions are met with large protests outside the chambers. Demonstrators, at one point, force themselves into the chamber. The Senate moves to a different building to complete the vote.

    September 12, 2024: The reform is then approved in 17 state legislatures, a condition for the passage of a constitutional amendment. Oaxaca was the first to ratify the amendment, just hours after its Congressional approval. As of September 23, all but two of Mexico’s 33 state congresses have ratified the reform.

    September 13, 2024: The passage of the reform is declared in the Senate, an official part of the amendment process. Opposition senators do not attend the session.

    September 15, 2024: On Mexico’s Independence Day, AMLO publishes the reform in the official gazette of the federation.

    September 23, 2024: The General Council of the National Electoral Institute (INE) kickstarts preparations for the 2025 judicial election.

    The INE has not calculated how much the election might cost, though Morena Senator Ricardo Monreal estimated the figure at 3 to 3.5 billion pesos. Independent calculations have projected the cost could be as high as 22 billion pesos.

    October 1, 2024: Sheinbaum will be inaugurated as Mexico’s president. Sheinbaum has voiced support for the judicial reform and all of AMLO’s constitutional proposals.

    October 15, 2024: This is the deadline for the Senate to publish the call for candidates for the election.

    December 14, 2024: Congress has until this date to make adjustments to the judicial reform and pass secondary laws around the reform.

    This is also the deadline for the submission of candidate lists to the Senate for evaluation. 

    February 12, 2025: Deadline for the Senate to approve candidate lists and send nominees to the INE so they can design the ballot. There is no set number of nominees for each position. 

    March 30 to May 28, 2025: Expected campaign period for the judicial election—a 60-day period. There will be no pre-campaign period. Candidates cannot receive public or private financing for their campaigns, but they will receive radio and television time. Elected officials and political parties cannot endorse or support candidates.

    June 1, 2025: Mexicans will cast their ballots in the first set of judicial elections.

    Positions available include all nine Supreme Court justices, which reduces the size of this body from 11, and half of the federal circuit and district judges and magistrates. Vacancies in the federal and regionals electoral tribunals will be filled. Five members of a new judicial disciplinary court, which will oversee the judiciary, will be elected. 

    Estimates say this could amount to the election of about 1,500 judges.

    September 1, 2025: Elected judges will be sworn in.  

    This date is also the deadline for the judiciary to begin working under a new judicial disciplinary court and move its resources, personnel, and property to a new administration body.

    2027: In this year, elections will be held for positions not elected in 2025, including the superior chamber of the electoral court and half of the circuit magistrates and district judges. Estimates place the number of positions up for vote around 5,200.

    Challenges

    Can the implementation of the judicial reform be stopped?  

    The National Action Party, or PAN, has announced its intention to use Article 105 of the Constitution to bring the question of the reform’s legality to a major judicial body. To activate Article 105, the PAN would need a vote of one third of each body of the legislature. That would require legislators who voted for the reform to switch their allegiance. The PAN has said they want to bring the case in front of the electoral tribunal.

    Still, it’s not clear a court could override a constitutional amendment passed in Congress.

    The PAN has also said they are filing an amparo, a type of judicial stay, alleging that legal procedures were violated in the passage of the reform. Another opposition party, the Citizens' Movement, has also said they will file an amparo, claiming their rights as legislators were violated in the session. The motion includes questions of quorum, the change of venue, and an insufficient amount of time to consider the legislation. 

    Future reforms

    The passage of the judicial reform shifts the focus to AMLO’s remaining proposals: 17 constitutional amendments and two legal reform initiatives. Two of those reforms have been approved by the Chamber of Deputies and await consideration by the Senate.  

    The first is a constitutional amendment about the inscribed rights of indigenous and afro-descendent Mexicans, which the Chamber of Deputies approved on September 18. This reform sharpens the legal recognition and rights of these communities by mandating their right to be consulted on any measure that affects their lives or environment. It also guarantees their right to set up internal governance in accordance to their customs.

    On September 20, the Chamber approved an amendment that shifts control of the National Guard from the Security Ministry to the Defense Ministry. In 2023, the Supreme Court rejected such a reorganization, which critics worry will reduce accountability for the body. Discussion in the Senate begins September 23.

    The week starting September 23, the Chamber of Deputies will consider two more amendments: raising the minimum wage and providing monetary support for youth searching for jobs.

    Other constitutional proposals include reforms to make certain social programs into rights, ban GMOs and vapes, guarantee the supremacy of Mexico’s state electricity utility, replace the INE, and eliminate several autonomous agencies. The order of the priorities for the reforms may depend on Sheinbaum’s agenda.  

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