Monreal suggests Supreme Court justices agree on president election amid constitutional conflict

Ricardo Monreal, the coordinator for the Morena party in the Chamber of Deputies, has proposed that the ministers of Mexico's Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) seek an internal agreement to elect their next president. This suggestion comes amid a constitutional conflict stemming from the judicial reform passed in 2024.

The reform, approved by Morena and its allies, established that the SCJN president would be elected based on the number of votes obtained. However, the reform failed to amend Article 97 of the Constitution, which stipulates that the court's president is chosen by the ministers themselves through a vote for a four-year term. This creates a contradiction, or antinomy, in the election process.

Monreal stated, "I think what should be attempted in the Court, if one of the articles is not repealed, which would be the solution from the legislative point of view… but if it is not achieved and if consensus is not reached in the coming months, what they should attempt is an agreement among the ministers, so that these types of public confrontations that are already exceeding the normal and the recommended do not occur."

Furthermore, Monreal advised against extending the term of the current president, Hugo Aguilar Ortiz. He warned that such a move could replicate the controversy that arose when former minister Arturo Zaldívar's term was extended. "I do not believe that the current minister president will be ratified for two years either; remember the big problem that arose when the extension of the presidency of the then minister Zaldívar was attempted, and it was the cause of great movement, disagreement over that pretension," he expressed.

Monreal acknowledged the responsibility of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate in this constitutional ambiguity, stating that they failed to repeal one of the conflicting provisions. However, he remains optimistic that an institutional and legal solution can be found through an agreement among the justices.