Understand the steps needed to approve judicial reform in Mexico

Last February, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador sent the proposal to reform the Judiciary to the Congress of the Union, which was approved in general in the Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday (4).

Understand the necessary steps that this constitutional reform in Mexico must follow to be approved in full.

1. Reform initiative: The reform proposal can be presented by the president of the republic, by members of the Federal Congress (deputies or senators) or by the State Legislative Assemblies.
2. Referral to committees: Once presented, the initiative is forwarded to the appropriate committees, which may include the Committee on Constitutional Points, the Justice Committee or any other committee related to the judicial issue. The committees carry out a detailed analysis of the proposal and then prepare an opinion, which may be favorable or unfavorable. The opinion may include modifications, additions or even rejection of the original proposal. The opinion is voted on within the committees and, if approved, is sent to the plenary of the corresponding Chamber.
3. Discussion and approval by the Chamber of Deputies: The opinion is presented to the plenary of the Chamber where the initiative originated (Chamber of Deputies or Senate). In the plenary, legislators discuss the opinion. During this phase, interventions, proposals for modifications or reservations to specific articles may occur. The discussion in the plenary can be extensive, especially in the case of important reforms such as the judicial system, and may involve several days of debate. Once the discussion is concluded, the opinion is voted on, first in general terms and then in specific terms. In order to approve a constitutional reform, a qualified majority (two-thirds of the legislators present) is required.
4. Review and Approval by the Senate: (currently, the process is at this stage) The second (reviewing) Chamber carries out a similar process of analysis, discussion and voting. If the reviewing Chamber approves the opinion in the same terms, the reform is considered approved by Congress.
5. Discussion in State Legislative Assemblies: Once approved by the Congress of the Union, the reform must be ratified by the majority of the Legislative Assemblies of the states, and the results must be communicated to the Congress of the Union. In this case, the approval of at least 17 of the 32 State Legislative Assemblies is required.
6. Promulgation and Publication in the Official Gazette of the Federation: After being approved by the Congress of the Union and the State Legislative Assemblies, the reform is sent to the president so that he can promulgate it and publish it in the Official Gazette of the Federation. The publication must include the date on which the reform comes into effect.
7. Entry into Force: The constitutional reform comes into force once it has been published in the Official Gazette of the Federation, unless the reform decree itself stipulates a different date for its entry into force.

This initiative, which is part of a legislative package of 20 reforms sent by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to Congress last February, proposes as its main point the election of judges, magistrates and ministers by popular vote. This has generated, among other reactions, an indefinite strike of activities by a sector of the Judiciary’s workers, as well as tensions in diplomatic relations with the ambassadors of the United States and Canada, its main trading partners.

According to article 135 of the Mexican Constitution, it can be reformed “through modifications, additions or revocations of its texts contained in the titles, chapters, sections, articles, paragraphs, sections, fractions and subparagraphs”, establishing that it can be added to or reformed following the requirements and formalities provided for in the Law itself.

Requirements for constitutional reform

One of the requirements established in the so-called Magna Carta for a constitutional reform to be carried out is that the Congress of the Union, through the Chamber of Deputies or the Senate, approves the reforms or additions by means of a vote of two-thirds of those present.

The second requirement is that the reforms or additions must be approved by an absolute majority (half plus one) of the state legislative assemblies, as stipulated by the Constitution.

According to what is established in the aforementioned article 135 of the Constitution, the phases of a constitutional reform are as follows:

1. Reform Initiative

Article 135 of the Constitution establishes that the constitutional reform initiative is presented by those who have the authority to present laws or decrees to the plenary of the Chamber of origin and is forwarded to the committees. The responsible committee(s) prepare(s) and approve(s) the corresponding opinion. The opinion is then presented to the plenary of the Chamber of origin.

This step has already taken place, since, on August 26th, the Constitutional Points Committee of the Chamber of Deputies approved, both in general and specific terms, the draft opinion on the aforementioned reform, which was sent to the Chamber of Deputies for discussion and possible approval this week.

The Constitutional Points Committee “is an entity that, as part of parliamentary law, reviews different technical aspects regarding the viability of the reform,” Arturo Ramos Sobarzo, director of the Legal Research Center at the Free School of Law, explained to CNN.

2. Discussion

According to the Constitution, during this procedure, the draft constitutional reform decree is read and discussed, and, if applicable, approved in the Chamber of origin; that is, in the Chamber of Deputies. Thus, the draft with the draft constitutional reform decree is presented to the plenary of the revising Chamber.

This Tuesday (3), deputies were expected to discuss and vote, both in general and specific terms, on the reform of the Judiciary, as reported by Ricardo Monreal, leader of the ruling Morena party in the Chamber of Deputies.

3. Approval

In this step, the Constitution establishes that, “in the case of observations with total or partial rejection by the reviewing chamber (the Chamber of Senators), the project will be returned to the chamber of origin (the Chamber of Deputies), which in turn may approve or reject it, totally or partially.”

The project is then forwarded to the committees for study and opinion. The responsible committee(s) analyze, discuss and approve the corresponding opinion, in accordance with the aforementioned constitutional article.

The draft decree is then sent to the local congresses of the 31 states of the Republic, in addition to Mexico City, for approval.

“As it is a constitutional reform, it needs to be approved in Congress, both by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, by two-thirds of the votes, and it must also be approved by the majority of the legislative assemblies of the 32 states that make up the country, including the Mexican capital,” says Ramos Sobarzo.

4. Sanction

Once the bill or decree has been approved by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, it is communicated to the Federal Executive Branch, signed by the presidents of each chamber. At this point, it is up to the President of the Republic to express his agreement by sanctioning the law and ordering its promulgation, or to express his disagreement by formulating objections to the bill.

If the president agrees with the entire bill, he will proceed to sanction it and order its promulgation as law. It is worth noting that sanction “is the act of acceptance of a law or decree initiative by the Executive Branch,” as established in Article 72 of the Mexican Constitution.

5. Publication

According to what is established by the Constitution, opinions, without exception, “must be published in the Parliamentary Gazette at most 48 hours before the start of the session in which they will be made available in the session”.

6. Effective Date

Constitutional reforms in Mexico come into force on the same day they are published in the Official Gazette of the Federation, unless the Constituent Assembly establishes a specific date for entry into force.

This content was originally published in Understand the steps needed to approve judicial reform in Mexico on the CNN Brasil website.

Source: CNN Brasil