The renewed Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) celebrates its first year this Tuesday, with 163 public sessions and more than 2,600 cases resolved, in a period marked by a shift towards indigenous and Afro-Mexican rights, the resolution of multi-million dollar backlogged tax disputes and the endorsement of reforms by the governments of Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, although also with rulings contrary to their interests.
In his first months he unblocked files, including those of Ricardo Salinas Pliego's companies, to which he confirmed tax credits for more than 48,326 million pesos. It also established criteria on money laundering, child sexual abuse, billing, vicarious violence and access to water, but remains pending such as informal preventive detention.
Its president, Hugo Aguilar Ortiz, described the performance of the “new Court” as “extremely positive,” although he acknowledged that the challenge is to extend its vision to the rest of the Judicial Branch of the Federation (PJF), where delays and high workloads persist.
"This thing about closing the doors of the Court again, closing the ministers' cubicles and thinking that without dialogue the minister will be enlightened to find the best solutions, it's over. That remains in the past," he told La Jornada.
Aguilar recalled that they inherited more than 1,400 backlogged cases, some with up to six years in the file, and that at the beginning of this month only 56 remained. Regarding the informal preventive detention, he hoped to resolve it this year: "Yes, I hope we will get it out this year."
Transcendent decisions
Among its rulings, the Court recognized indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples as interested third parties in constitutional controversies that affect their rights. Since September, it has resolved 56 issues related to these communities, mainly on consultation, agrarian matters and the environment.
It also validated the extinction of 109 federal funds and trusts ordered in 2020; limited interest payments on overpaid tax credits; and allowed claiming a compensatory pension for cohabitation even after the couple died.
In addition, it validated that the Financial Intelligence Unit freezes accounts without a court order or international request in the event of “sufficient indications” of money laundering or financing of terrorism; avoided new interrogations of minor victims of sexual abuse; denied customs agents suspensions to stop their asset declarations; and protected ejidatarios from San Salvador Atenco to receive “economic compensation” for the effects of the 2022 decree on Lake Texcoco.
Among its most important decisions, it ordered guaranteeing access to water in irregular settlements in Chihuahua and communities with historical backwardness in Ecatepec, and forced Semarnat, Conagua and Cofepris to adopt measures against the risks of water contamination and the use of glyphosate in Mayan communities in Hopelchén, Campeche.
