National Regeneration Movement Senate President Gerardo Fernández Noroña. Photo: Google

By KELIN DILLON

On Wednesday, Oct. 30, members the National Regeneration Movement (Morena) in Mexico’s legislative branch pushed back against the mass resignations submitted by eight ministers from the Supreme Court Justice of the Nation (SCJN) earlier this week.

Had the ministers failed to submit their resignations before Oct. 31, they would be barred from accessing financial retirement benefits due to the recently passed judicial reform’s changes to the Mexican Constitution.

In particular, Morena parliamentary leaders Gerardo Fernández Noroña and Ricardo Monreal threatened not to approve the submitted resignations, therefore preventing the SCJN ministers from receiving the aforementioned pensions.

“In reality, they are declining to participate in the June 2025 election,” Senate President Fernández Noroña said on Wednesday morning. “That gives them the right to leave with their positions with bags full, to leave with their pension under the current terms, but the Senate Plenum may not accept the resignations.”

However, opposition party members argued against this by pointing out that retired SCJN ministers Arturo Zaldívar and Olga Sánchez Cordero – who happen to be allied with Morena and currently hold positions in the government – both benefit from ongoing retirement pensions from their time on the court.

“If this were to happen, it would be an attack on the labor rights of ministers, and I say this clearly: how come Zaldívar and Olga Sánchez Cordero do not renounce their pensions as ministers?” said the National Action Party’s (PAN) leader in the Chamber of Deputies, Noemí Luna.

For her part, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo (CSP) said on Wednesday that the SCJN ministers have every right to resign, though still refuted their ability to challenge the judicial reform.