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By KELIN DILLON

Eight members of Mexico’s Supreme Court Justice of the Nation (SCJN) are expected to issue their resignations to the court on Tuesday, Oct. 29, following the passage of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s (AMLO) controversial constitutional reform to elect all members of the nation’s judicial branch popularly.

SCJN President Norma Piña, Javier Láynez, Jorge Pardo Rebolledo, Alberto Pérez Dayán, Luis María Aguilar Morales, Margarita Ríos Farjat, Alfredo Gutiérrez Ortiz Mena, and Juan Luis González Alcántara are all expected to formally announce their departures on Tuesday.

Alongside their resignations, the ministers in question will also give up their right to be elected back into the Mexican judicial system during the public elections slated for June 2025.

However, despite the announcement, the SCJN ministers will remain in their positions until August 2025, explained Senate President Gerardo Fernández Noroña.

Fernández Noroña cautioned that “there is no such mass resignation of the ministers of the SCJN.”

Issuing the resignations now will allow said ministers to collect their lifetime retirement benefits proportional to time served on the court, which would be nullified if they resigned after Oct. 31 due to new changes outlined in AMLO’s reform. 

Meanwhile, Ministers Lenia Batres, Yasmín Esquivel Mossa, and Loretta Ortiz Ahlf have said they will retain their positions in favor of participating in June’s elections, therefore surrendering any potential retirement benefits in the process.