The government of Oaxaca ended up in fast-track with the Court of Administrative Justice of the State this July 22; He did it in less than 10 minutes, without discussion or analysis, violating rules, in an extraordinary period on Saturday. As has already happened in the six-year term, the changes were made due to alleged acts of corruption that the accusers did not bother to try to prove. Was a simple pretext to give the governor a tribunal in mode.
The reform was carried out in an extraordinary hybrid session -face-to-face and virtual- with 34 of the 42 state deputies. Lawmakers acted after the governor expressed on several occasions his “desire” that the legislature reform the court, which he described as corrupt and hindering the transformation. Not only were procedures omitted, but the session was held with a single call, not with two, as required by law. The magistrates were dismissed regardless of the fact that the Constitution guaranteed them stability in office. It was stipulated that the compensation would be paid only if there is “budget sufficiency”, in violation of their labor rights. While the coup was taking place, a group of state police officers took control of the court building, much like a coup.
In a second extraordinary session, and by “economic vote”, the deputies created that same Saturday a new Court of Administrative Justice and Fight against Corruption. The seven new magistrates were proposed by the governor and immediately appointed by the deputies. As they happened to be close, they were sworn in within 15 minutes.
This new court will not only administer administrative justice, that is, it will defend the governed from the abuses of the state government, but it will also be in charge of the fight against corruption. You will become judge and party in these cases.
Concerned about authoritarianism, the way the governor took down the court in one fell swoop. If he already had the executive and legislative power, now he wants to dominate the judicial. Thus, the division of powers in the state is being erased, as the lawyer Claudia de Buen Unna has pointed out. She also worries the message to judges and magistrates throughout the country, as in the case of the imprisonment of judge Angélica Sánchez by the governor of Veracruz, Cuitláhuac García. If the judges do not rule as the governors want, they will pay the consequences.
Jara is not the only ruler in the world who wants to control the judiciary. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, yesterday won approval of a bill that will prevent the Supreme Court from blocking unconstitutional government actions. Thousands of Israelis have protested. Ernesto Zedillo also changed the Supreme Court in 1994, but with a reform that respected the law. The most important thing is that he chose candidates for the shortlists that he himself did not know and who were not his political subordinates. From those designations came, for example, Olga Sánchez Cordero. That reform, in fact, gave independence to the Mexican Court.
I don’t know if the outrage in Oaxaca can be legally stopped. Many rules were violated to push the new legislation. The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation has already determined that preventing analysis and discussion is a reason to invalidate legislative actions.
The most important thing now, however, will be to defend the independence of all the courts in the country. A republic needs counterweights. Only dictators erase the independence of judges.
extremes
Spanish voters rejected the extremes. The far-right Vox fell from 53 to 32 seats; the ultra-leftist United We Can, converted into Sumar, went from 35 to 31. In contrast, the center-right Popular Party increased from 89 to 136, and the center-left Socialist Party rose two, to 122. The problem is that extremes will be necessary to form a government.
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