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Following a six-to-five vote on Monday, Justice Norma Lucia Pina was sworn in for a four-year term as president of the court, which she has promised to keep independent.
“Judicial independence is indispensable in resolving conflicts between the branches of government,” Pina said on Monday. “My main proposal is to work to build majorities, leaving aside my personal vision.”
Pina’s election could bring the court into greater confrontation with the administration of Mexico’s left-wing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, whom Pina has sparred with over issues such as energy policy.
Already, Lopez Obrador’s relationship with the nation’s highest court is strained. The president has been outspoken in challenging the Supreme Court, particularly after the court blocked a number of his policies.
In November, for example, Lopez Obrador accused the court of siding with white-collar criminals when it struck down part of his “jail, no bail” policy, which required mandatory pre-trial detention for defendants accused of crimes like tax fraud. “What tremendous shamelessness,” he said, denouncing the justices.
Mexico’s Supreme Court holds elections for a new president every four years. With outgoing Chief Justice Arturo Zaldivar set to finish his term on December 31, Lopez Obrador had thrown his weight behind another justice, Yasmin Esquivel, in the hope of seeing a more sympathetic leader elected to lead the Supreme Court.
