The minister of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), Yasmin Esquivel Mossa, accused of allegedly having plagiarized her degree thesis in 1987, obtained on Wednesday the definitive suspension of the possible sanctions that the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) could impose on her, with which the resolution of his case is paralyzed until the judgment of the amparo that promoted the togada is issued.
It should be clarified that this definitive suspension does not stop the case analysis process carried out by the UNAM Ethics Committee, but only the conclusion reached by that collegiate group, so the house of studies will not be able to determine if it decides impose some type of sanction on the minister, if it is confirmed that she plagiarized the essay with which she obtained her law degree.
The precautionary measure that benefits Esquivel was issued by the judge Sandra de Jesus Zuniga, head of the Fifth District Court in Administrative Matters of Mexico City, within the amparo trial that filed the togada against the guidelines that allowed the formation of the UNAM Ethics Committee.
In his request for amparo, Esquivel Mossa questions the constitutionality of the norms that give rise to the University Ethics Committeeas well as those that support the existence of the Academic and Scientific Integrity Committee of the current Faculty of Higher Studies Aragon, where the minister is a graduate.
This last instance determined, on January 12, that the official had indeed plagiarized her degree thesis, by presenting an essay with more than 90% similarities with the one registered -in 1986- by the former student Edgar Ulises Baez Gutierrez.
Constitutionality of the procedure
As a strategy in her lawsuit, the Minister of the Court tries to get the Fifth District Court in Administrative Matters of the country’s capital to declare that the guidelines of the UNAM ethics committees are unconstitutional in your case, because these were issued years after the facts, so they should not be applied against him.
Likewise, Yasmín Esquivel accuses the UNAM of violate their rights to honor and dignity by the procedure followed by the Ethics Committee of the house of studies. In fact, the minister considers that all this controversy has caused her a serious moral damage.
With this argument, Esquivel Mossa had requested in his amparo request that the university authorities refrain from reporting on his case, which -initially- was granted by the judge Sandra de Jesus Zuniga in a provisional suspension.
However, on February 22, the Twenty Collegiate Court in Administrative Matters of Mexico City determined partially revoke that provisional suspension, with which it was determined that the freedom of expression of the UNAM authorities could not be restricted.
Specifically, unanimously, the three magistrates who are members of that Court considered that the house of studies can report on this case, because society as a whole is interested in it.
When resolving a Complaint promoted by the country’s highest house of studies against the provisional suspension, the Twentieth Collegiate Court recalled that the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court establishes that the right to private life of officials is less extensive than that of citizens, because public servants have voluntarily accepted to expose themselves to public scrutiny.
Therefore, the UNAM and its authorities can report on the course of the procedure against Yasmín Esquivel Mossa, to safeguard the right to information of Mexican society, provided for in article 6 of the Constitution. However, what the university reports should not include judgments or subjective assessments, so that the presumption of innocence of the minister is not harmed, the magistrates limited.
In this sense, in the public file of the amparo promoted by Esquivel It is not detailed whether the definitive suspension also includes a new restriction on the freedom of expression of the university authorities. If so, the UNAM must promote a Review Appeal so that a Collegiate Court reanalyzes the terms of the precautionary measure granted to the minister.
Changes at UNAM
This week, coinciding with the scandal caused by the accusation of plagiarism against Esquivel Mossa, the UNAM announced the change of its general counsel. The rector Enrique Graue Wiechers welcomed the jurist Hugo Alejandro Concha Cantu, replacing Alfredo Sánchez Castañeda.
The latter, last January, had issued an opinion regarding the case of Yasmín Esquivel, in which it was detailed that the house of studies could not sanction the minister of the Court, since she no longer had a legal relationship with the UNAM , so it was not possible to try to cancel her law degree.
Hugo Concha is a well-known academic and lawyer, a member of the UNAM Legal Research Institute, who has also been a visiting researcher at the Center for Mexican Studies, Ortega y Gasset Foundation, at Pompeu Fabre University, in Barcelona, Spain.
Among his labors, The new UNAM general attorney will also be in charge of the judicial process undertaken against the house of studies by the minister of the Supreme Courta legal battle that will not be easy or fast, considering the workload of the federal courts and tribunals of our country.
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surya palaces Journalist and lawyer, specialist in legal analysis and human rights. She has been a reporter, radio host and editor.