The Chamber of Deputies approved in the session this Wednesday the list of 1,412 candidates for positions in the Federal Judiciary (PJF), with 321 votes in favor, 112 against, and one abstention. This list will be used in the elections scheduled for June 1, 2025, where the positions of ministers of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), magistrates, and judges throughout the country, among others, will be submitted to popular vote.
The selection process included a public drawing of the candidates evaluated by the committee, which, according to Deputy Leonel Godoy of the Movimiento de Regeneración Nacional (Morena), "guaranteed transparency." On the other hand, opposition parties such as PAN and PRI criticized the selection, arguing that it favors individuals close to the party of President Claudia Sheinbaum and represents an attempt to capture the Judiciary.
The approved list includes 657 women and 755 men candidates for positions as ministers of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, magistrates of the Judicial Discipline Tribunal, magistrates of the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary and its regional chambers, circuit magistrates, and district judges.
The abstention in the voting corresponded to retiring minister Olga Sánchez Cordero, whose daughter, Paula María García Villegas Sánchez Cordero, is a candidate for minister of the Supreme Court. With the approval of the list, it will be sent to the Mexican Senate to continue the candidate registration process before the National Electoral Institute (INE) ahead of the judicial elections on June 1, despite the autonomous body having requested a postponement in its organization due to a budget adjustment.
These elections are part of a judicial reform aimed at transforming the way judges and magistrates are elected in Mexico, allowing their selection by popular vote. This process has generated debates about judicial independence and political influence in the justice system. Preparations for the judicial election continue to take shape.
