Mexico's Senate flooded by protesters during debate on judicial reform

CNN
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Mexican lawmakers had to interrupt the debate on a controversial judicial reform after protesters broke down the doors of the Senate building and forcibly gained access to the upper house's chamber.

The debate was to be followed by a vote on the sweeping constitutional reform that would allow Mexicans to elect judges at all levels of government by popular vote. But as the crowd stormed the upper chamber on Tuesday, Senate President Gerardo Fernandez Noroña ordered his colleagues to clear the chamber to avoid confrontations with the protesters.

Noroña then ordered the Senate to resume debate at 7 p.m. local time (9 p.m. ET) at another location, the former Senate headquarters in Mexico City.

Dramatic footage of the scene showed protesters banging on the chamber's doors while others waved the Mexican flag from a gallery above the Senate chamber. Some lawmakers cheered the protesters.

The advocate of comprehensive constitutional reform is Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has long criticized his country's Supreme Court for standing in the way of some of his most important policy proposals.

Once the reform is passed, Mexicans would elect their judges at all levels of government through elections, a process that legal experts say would make Mexico an international outsider.

The reform was easily passed in the lower house of Congress last week, but the López Obrador-led coalition needs a qualified majority to pass it in the upper house.

According to Reuters, there is growing speculation that an opposition senator has switched sides and joined the ruling party, meaning the reform may only be passed with a razor-thin majority.

The bill received rare and sharp criticism from US Ambassador Ken Salazar in Mexico City. Salazar described the election of judges as a “major risk to the functioning of Mexican democracy.”

His comments sparked an international dispute between the two countries. Warnings from business associations that the reform could damage the Mexican investment environment caused the value of the peso to plummet.

López Obrador, a popular leftist, says the reform is necessary to rid Mexico's judiciary of corruption and ensure it follows the will of the people. Critics of the reform say it is a power grab that would expose one of the last remaining checks on presidential power to political influence.

Supreme Court judges in Mexico are usually nominated by the president and must be confirmed by the Senate. Federal judges are selected by a judicial commission that evaluates candidates on a merit-based basis through exams and courses.

If the reform is adopted, a campaign period would be followed by judicial elections next year. Around 7,000 judges would then have to fight for their seats or hand over the gavel to the most popular candidate.

The reform comes at a time when López Obrador's political movement is gaining power. His protégé Claudia Sheinbaum was overwhelmingly elected president in June and supports efforts to reform the justice system.

Sheinbaum, who takes office in October, rejected the view that the reform would result in a concentration of power in her ruling Morena party. She said the process of nominating judicial candidates would be divided between the three branches of government.

This is a developing story and will be updated.