In one of his final acts as president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador pushed through a contentious judicial reform. López Obrador celebrated the overhaul of the judiciary as a necessity and an important legacy of his government.

A primary concern is that the reform weakens judicial independence, reducing checks and balances on the government. There are fears the election process could be open to political influence, reducing the judiciary’s autonomy from government and strengthening the Morena party's dominance. There are also concerns that organized crime groups could interfere in the election of judges, threatening access to justice for victims and further inflating impunity levels.

On The LatinNews Podcast this week, we speak to Julio Ríos-Figueroa, Associate Professor at the Department of Law at ITAM in Mexico City. His research focuses on comparative judicial politics, the rule of law, and empirical legal studies with a focus on the Latin American region.

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