The 2024 Mexican judicial reform is a series of constitutional amendments that restructured the judiciary of Mexico. The reform replaced Mexico's appointment-based system for selecting judges with one where judges, pre-selected by Congress, are elected by popular vote, with each judge serving a renewable nine-year term. It reduces the number of Supreme Court justices from 11 to 9 and limits their terms to 12 years. The reform also allows the use of "faceless" judges and establishes a new tribunal for judicial oversight and accountability, while significantly reducing benefits and salaries previously received by members of the judiciary. With the passing of the reform, Mexico became the first country to have elections for all judges.
The reform was put forward by the governing coalition, led by the National Regeneration Movement (Morena), with the goal of eliminating corruption in the judiciary. It faced significant resistance from opposition political parties, judicial workers, and international organizations, who argued that it threatened judicial independence. It sparked nationwide protests and strikes, even leading to the storming of the Senate on the day of the bill's vote.
The amendments secured the required two-thirds majority in Congress and were then ratified by a majority of state legislatures in record time. It was promulgated by outgoing president Andrés Manuel López Obrador on 15 September.
Background During his presidency, Andrés Manuel López Obrador frequently clashed with the judiciary, accusing it of obstructing his government by granting constitutional relief injunctions (amparos) that delayed his infrastructure projects, such as the Tren Maya, often halting tree felling. López Obrador claimed the judiciary was controlled by a minority, complicit in white-collar crime, and influenced by external actors. On 1 September 2023, he announced plans to pursue judicial reform aimed at eliminating conflicts of interest and corruption, proposing that judges be elected by popular vote.
On 5 February 2024, López Obrador introduced a package of constitutional reforms known as "Plan C", among them a reform to the country's judiciary. As a constitutional amendment, the reform required approval by a two-thirds majority in both chambers of Congress.
During the 2024 general election, Claudia Sheinbaum campaigned on passing López Obrador's "Plan C", including the judicial reform, if her coalition secured a supermajority in Congress. Her coalition, Sigamos Haciendo Historia—comprising the National Regeneration Movement (Morena), the Labor Party (PT), and the Ecologist Green Party of Mexico (PVEM)—won a supermajority in the Chamber of Deputies with 364 of 500 seats. In the Senate, they fell three seats short of a supermajority, holding 83 out of 128 seats. On 28 August, defections by the two senators elected for the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) reduced the shortfall to just one seat.
Shortly after winning the election, president-elect Sheinbaum committed to prioritizing the judicial reform. Between 14 and 16 June 2024, three opinion polls conducted by De las Heras, Enkoll, and Morena showed that around 80% of respondents supported the reforms, although only half of those polled were previously aware of the proposal. From 27 June to 8 August, Sheinbaum and Morena legislators agreed to hold nine discussion forums, each focusing on a different aspect of the reform package.
Legislative history
Chamber of Deputies During the final days of the LXV Legislature of the Congress of the Union, the judicial reform was introduced to the Constitutional Points Commission of the Chamber of Deputies. On 26 August 2024, the commission voted along party lines to send the reform to the full Chamber of Deputies, with 22 in favor and 16 against.
On 31 August, a judge granted an amparo to striking court employees and judges, blocking discussion or voting on the reform in Congress.
On 1 September, at the start of the LXVI Legislature, the first reading of the reform took place. The PRI parliamentary group, led by Rubén Moreira, left the chamber, claiming the reading was illegal due to an active amparo. Ricardo Monreal, the coordinator of the Morena parliamentary group, defended the reading, arguing that amparos do not apply to constitutional reforms.
On 3 September, the reform was scheduled to be discussed at the Legislative Palace of San Lázaro. Due to protests by court employees and students, which blocked access to the legislative palace, the vote was relocated to a gymnasium, a move criticized by opposition deputies and senators. The debate began at 16:00 CST, and in the early hours of 4 September 2024, the general text was approved, along party lines in a 359–135 vote, with opposition deputies from the National Action Party (PAN), Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), and Citizens' Movement (MC) voting against.
In the hours that followed, several amendments were made: Magdalena Núñez Monreal (PT) introduced gender parity and inclusive language provisions, Jesús Martín Cuanalo Araujo (PVEM) proposed allowing judges to continue practicing law after leaving office, and Francisco Ávila Anaya (Morena) secured compensation for judges, including three months' salary and 20 days' pay per year of service. The final vote passed with 357 votes in favor and 130 against, again with all opposition deputies present voting against.
Senate On 8 September 2024, the Senate's Constitutional Points and Legislative Studies commissions held a joint meeting, voting along party lines to advance the reform to the full Senate, with 25 votes in favor and 12 against.
With Morena and its allies just one seat short of a supermajority in the Senate, they needed support from at least one opposition senator to meet the two-thirds requirement to pass the reform. Ahead of the Senate vote, opposition parliamentary coordinators—Guadalupe Murguía (PAN), Manuel Añorve (PRI), and Clemente Castañeda (MC)—announced their parties would unanimously oppose the reform. The three parties also claimed external pressure and bribery attempts aimed at convincing senators to defect, with the PAN alleging that state attorneys general were threatening opposition senators. A tracker called the Democratómetro, organized by businessman Claudio X. González, was used to pressure opposition senators into voting against the reform by documenting and publicizing their public statements.
On 10 September, the first reading of the reform took place. During the session, two senators were absent: Daniel Barreda (MC) and Miguel Ángel Yunes Márquez (PAN). Claiming that Barreda and his father had been arrested, Citizens' Movement called for a recess, but Adán Augusto López (MORENA) disproved the claim through a phone call with Barreda, and the motion was defeated in an 83–41 vote. Yunes Márquez, who had been widely suspected as likely to defect, submitted a letter requesting a leave of absence. This request was approved in an 83–36 vote, and his alternate, Miguel Ángel Yunes Linares, was sworn in. During a floor speech, Yunes Linares criticized PAN President Marko Cortés for pressuring Yunes Márquez by threatening to expel him from the party if he voted in favor of the bill.
Discussion on the reform began at 14:30 CST but was disrupted when protesters stormed the building, forcing an indefinite recess. The session reconvened at an alternate venue at 19:00 CST, with Mexico City police securing the site. During the session, Yunes Márquez returned to his seat and announced that he would break with his party and vote for the reform. Opposition senators protested at the Senate podium, voicing their objections to the reform and the absence of Daniel Barreda, who had been located in Campeche dealing with his father's arrest, which they described as a kidnapping. The text passed with an 86–41 vote at around 04:00 CST the following morning.
Ratification Having been passed by the LXVI Legislature, the reform was sent to state legislatures for consideration. A majority of the states (17 of 32) were required to ratify the reform package for its constitutional amendments to take effect. Oaxaca became the first state to ratify on 11 September 2024, just hours after its approval in the Senate; seventeen other states followed suit over the next 24 hours, most of them ratifying the reform on a fast-track basis. Querétaro was the first state to vote against the reform, followed by Jalisco two days later.
By 12 September, a majority of the states had ratified the reform, with Zacatecas becoming the seventeenth to do so. The state legislature ratification process was finalized in under 24 hours, breaking the previous record set by the 2013 energy reform, which took 45 hours.
On 13 September, the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies convened to issue the constitutional declaration of the reform, formally sending it to President López Obrador for publication. By that time, 23 state congresses had ratified the reform. All opposition deputies and senators boycotted the session.
On 15 September, just before the annual Cry of Dolores, President López Obrador promulgated the judicial reform in the Official Journal of the Federation, with President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum present as a witness.
+ State legislatures' decisions on the judicial reform Congress Date Ratified VoteFor/Against/Abst. Oaxaca 11 September 42–0–0 Tabasco 11 September 24–8–0 Quintana Roo 11 September 21–4–0 Veracruz 11 September 32–11–0 Querétaro 11 September Baja California Sur 11 September 19–2–0Nayarit 11 September 24–6–0Colima11 September 18–5–0Yucatán 11 September 19–16–0Morelos11 September 14–6–0Durango11 September 19–6–0Baja California11 September 20–5–0Tlaxcala11 September 21–4–0Puebla11 September 28–10–0Campeche11 September 22–5–0Sinaloa11 September 31–1–0Guerrero12 September 33–9–4Zacatecas12 September 17–12–0Tamaulipas12 September 20–10–1Mexico City12 September 46–20–0Mexico12 September 54–20–1Sonora12 September 27–6–0Jalisco13 September10–26–2Hidalgo13 September24–6–0San Luis Potosí13 September 19–7–0
Provisions Judicial elections The reform proposes the establishment of elections for all federal judges, including Supreme Court justices. All judges, excluding those in the Supreme Court, would be elected for nine-year terms, with the possibility of one consecutive re-election.
The National Electoral Institute (INE) would oversee judicial elections. Public and private funding, the purchase of media space, and campaigning by political parties would be prohibited.
To be eligible as a candidate for a judicial position, individuals must be Mexican citizens by birth, have no serious criminal convictions, hold a law degree with a minimum grade point average of 8, have at least five years of relevant professional experience, submit a series of essays on pertinent legal topics, and provide five reference letters outlining their qualifications. Candidates cannot have held roles as members of the federal cabinet, attorney general, president, federal deputy, senator, or governor during the year before the election.
A special election was held in 2025 to elect new Supreme Court justices and fill half of all judicial positions. The remaining half would be elected in 2027.
Judicial anonymity The reforms allow for cases involving organized crime to be heard by "faceless" judges. The provision was introduced by the Chamber of Deputies during the bill's committee stage in response to a suggestion floated by López Obrador during his daily press conference some days earlier.
Judicial oversight