Mexican Supreme Court Justice abruptly resigns
October 4, 2019
Mexican Supreme Court Justice Eduardo Medina Mora has resigned from his post, the office of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Thursday.
Medina Mora's resignation was unusual and unexpected. It came as the judge was facing questions about a potential investigation by Mexico's financial intelligence unit.
Read more: Mexico: Five years after 43 students go missing, families still seek justice
The 62-year-old jurist has a lengthy career in public service, spanning three administrations. He been appointed to the high court under the administration of Lopez Obrador's predecessor President Enrique Pena Nieto in 2015.
Previously he served as ambassador to the United States and as Mexico's attorney general, a post he held under Pena Nieto's predecessor President Felipe Calderon.
According to Mexican broadcaster Televisa, this is the first time a resignation has taken place in the Supreme Court since 1994, when a constitutional reform created the court in its current form.
Read more: Mexico: 'Journalism is the only source of truth'
A representative of the president's Morena party said that Lopez Obrador had accepted the resignation and it would now be sent to the senate for final approval, as Mexican law dictates.
The Mexican president said in June that his government's financial unit had received information regarding Medina Mora. He warned at the time that it did not mean the jurist was guilty of wrongdoing.
National media reports had raised questions about bank transfers to accounts in the US and the UK that amounted to 103 million pesos ($5.2 million), four times more than the judge's declared income between 2013 and 2017.
Lopez Obrador, who took office in December of 2018, has vowed to root out what he says is Mexico's entrenched corruption, even at the higher levels of power.
jcg/rc (EFE, AP, Reuters)