The former president of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) of Mexico Arturo Zaldivar (2019-2022) presented this Tuesday its resignation as minister of the organization through a letter sent to the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obradorafter 14 years in office.
Today I have presented to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador my resignation from the position of Minister of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, so that, if he accepts it, it may be submitted to the Senate of the Republic for approval.” Zaldívar reported in a publication on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
Zaldívar, accused of being too close to López Obrador, He is the second minister to present his resignation to the Supreme Courtafter the resignation of Eduardo Medina-Mora in October 2019 amid alleged pressure from the Government.
Through a letter addressed to the Mexican president, Zaldívar pointed out his “cycle in the Court has ended.”
And he defended that during the time he was in office he promoted “the most avant-garde criteria that constituted the new constitutional paradigm in the defense of the human rights of all people.”but argued that his contributions to the country’s Highest Constitutional Court “have become marginal.”
The minister announced that from now on he will join the consolidation of the “transformation” of Mexico, as López Obrador refers to his political movement.
The Mexico we dream of is possible. Let us continue to advance in its construction,” he concluded.
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While waiting for the Senate to accept his resignation, Zaldívar has remained in office for 13 years and 11 months, instead of the 15 years that his term should have lasted after his nomination by then-president Felipe Calderón (2006-2012). ) to the SCJN in 2009.
Zaldívar, in addition to being a minister of the SCJN, served as president of the Court from 2019 until December 2022.
After his resignation, López Obrador will propose his replacement, with which 5 of the 11 ministers of the Court will have been appointed by him, a crucial number because eight are required to declare a law unconstitutional and create jurisprudence.
Zaldívar’s career; 14 years in office
Zaldívar’s mandate was marked by the defense of social rights, among which the ruling that declared unconstitutional the prohibition of abortion or the decriminalization of recreational marijuana use stood out.
Always under the spotlight for his alleged closeness to López Obrador, in 2021 he was tempted to seek the extension of his mandate until 2024, thanks to a reform promoted by the Government, but he finally rejected it after the controversy that arose.
On several occasions, Zaldívar said that his priority was the causes “of the poor and the oppressed.”because “there cannot be a just society if those who make it up do not have equal rights.”
In his last report before leaving the presidency, he assured that in four years he managed to dismantle the networks of corruption and influence peddling that prevailed in the judiciary.
She also highlighted the constitutional and legal reform of Justice in 2021, which allowed an increase in the number of women in the judicial career, which she identified as her greatest achievement.
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