One year after Mexico's first popular election of judges, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) delivered its inaugural management report. Chief Justice Hugo Aguilar Ortiz, addressing President Claudia Sheinbaum, declared that the Judiciary "does not take orders" and that legal certainty creates the conditions for investment in Mexico.
Aguilar Ortiz delivered the 45-minute address at an event titled "One Year of Real and True Justice. A New Way of Understanding and Doing Justice," held before President Sheinbaum, the presiding officers of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, and the leadership of the Judicial Branch. He noted that the new court inherited an institution described as "slow, ossified, insular, and disconnected from citizens," and acknowledged that resistance to change persists. The address was directed at the country's political, economic, and social sectors: "You can count on this new Judiciary, a branch that resolves with rigor and offers certainty," Aguilar Ortiz said. Legal certainty matters, he explained, because "national development needs confidence to invest, innovate, and consolidate a rule of law equal to the times," according to El Financiero.
On the jurisdictional side, the first year saw 15,051 case files enter the SCJN, including the backlog inherited from the previous bench. Of those, 13,231 matters were resolved, equivalent to 88% of the total: 2,640 in the Plenary and 10,591 through procedural agreements. Aguilar Ortiz added that the new bench reduced the court's budget, eliminated supplemental health insurance and individualized separation benefits for justices, and reported savings exceeding 4,700 million pesos over the year. He specified that Plenary members receive the compensation established in the Constitution and that the austerity standard extends to the other bodies of the Judicial Branch, according to coverage by Aristegui Noticias.
Looking ahead to its second year, the Court announced it will move away from paper-based case registries toward a digital case management system and will concentrate admissions on matters of genuine relevance and significance. The certainty the court offers to economic sectors will be reflected in the rulings it issues in the coming months.
This article was prepared with the assistance of artificial intelligence from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.