By RICARDO CASTILLO    

Mexican newspaper columnists have gone berserk over the resignation of Supreme Court Judge Eduardo Medina Mora. How did all this happen?

One of them, Carlos Loret de Mola in the daily El Universal, claimed that Medina Mora was summoned by Supreme Court President Arturo Zaldivar and warned that the Unit of Financial Investigation had him by the throat and that if he didn’t quit, he and his brother Manuel – who is second aboard at the Mexican Employers Confederation, presided over by presidential arch-enemy Gustavo de Hoyos – would end up in jail.

Others, like syndicated columnist Salvador García Soto, alleged that López Obrador is clear on his path to fully control the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (full name) to curtail the judges and earn perhaps dictatorial power.

And still others, like National Autonomous University of Mexico and ex-gringo citizen John Ackerman opined that the judge’s resignation “has great symbolic relevance as it implies that the main principles of the Fourth Transformation of no lying, no stealing and no betrayal will also be applied to the judicial branch of government during this new stage in Mexican history.”

On Monday, Oct. 7, AMLO answered all columnists after making it clear that Medina Mora “freely made his own decision to resign.”

“There are those, however, who claim this is an act of political revenge,” AMLO said. “There’s none of that. It is the result of an investigation and Medina Mora freely made his decision to resign. I did not issue any instructions for him to be bullied into resigning. It is an investigation in the hands of the Federal Fiscal Office.”

AMLO has also been criticized by minority National Action Party (PAN) leader Marko Cortés of “violating the Constitution by immediately accepting the resignation of the judge,” who did not say in his letter of resignation what was the “grave reason” he had to quit.

AMLO has also been criticized by minority National Action Party (PAN) leader Marko Cortés of “violating the Constitution by immediately accepting the resignation of the judge,” who did not say in his letter of resignation what was the “grave reason” he had to quit.

In fact, for the Senate vote on Tuesday, Oct. 8, rumor has it that all of the minority political parties are garnering their clout in order to impede that the National Regeneration Movement (Morena) uses its slight majority to approve the resignation without going into detail. Many are trying to have Medina Mora come to the Senate and explain his reasons for leaving the post.

Up until now, Medina Mora continues to be a Supreme Court judge, but the moment – if it comes – that the Morena vote accepts his resignation, he will have stepped down.

The next step after that will be for López Obrador to submit a threesome of names of viable candidates to fill up the vacancy in the 11-member Supreme Court.

“I will choose people with very good profiles for the post, honest people, and not corrupt, professional lawyers, in accordance with the requisites and with a distinct trait of honesty,” AMLO said. “They should not be merchants or influence peddlers. They should be honest people.”

Another issue in filling up the vacancy will be one of gender. AMLO will most likely want to appoint a woman to the post, but in this case, it will not matter if it’s a she, but who she is. There are several potential candidates who have been questioned by AMLO opponents, of course, about whether they will back up his proposals and decisions. Surely all presidents everywhere appoint people to the Supreme Court who will be on their side. (Look at Donald Trump, for a peek.)

Another columnist, Leo Zuckerman of Excelsior, recalled in his column on Monday that former Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto used his judicial influence over the Supreme Court – where Median Mora served – in order to manipulate the law to damage PAN presidential candidate Ricardo Anaya’s hopes of getting elected. Peña Nieto dropped the charges after Anaya’s defeat.

“In the past, presidents have used alleged judicial investigations to ruin the public career of their adversaries,” Zuckerman wrote. “Medina Mora is supposedly being investigated for money laundering. It could be that, within a few months, we will find out also that Medina Mora was innocent, once the newly AMLO-nominated judge is in place.”

Indeed, there is ambiguity in the air regarding Medina Mora, because as the old Spanish saying goes, “he’s no white dove.” But for now, there must be patience and we must wait for the Senate to make a decision on how this case is to proceed.

There’ll be an answer, very soon.