A LEFT WING REFEREE

This article by Nancy Gómez appeared in the June 5, 2025 edition of Sin Embargo.

Three current members of the Judicial Council (Celia Maya, Verónica de Gyves, and Bernardo Bátiz), researcher Indira García, and the president of the Federal Conciliation Court, Rufino H. León, will join the Judicial Disciplinary Tribunal, the new body charged with overseeing judges.

Mexico City. The Judicial Disciplinary Tribunal (TDJ), which will be responsible for investigating and sanctioning federal judges, has already chosen its five members.

With 99 percent of the National Electoral Institute (INE) votes counted, the candidates receiving the most votes were three of the current members of the Federal Judiciary: Celia Maya (who will also preside over this court as the most voted candidate), Verónica de Gyves, and Bernardo Bátiz ; as well as the director of the Center for Legal Research at the University of Colima, Indira García ; and the president of the federal Conciliation and Arbitration Tribunal, Rufino H. León.

The Disciplinary Tribunal, composed of five judges—three women and two men—will be one of the two bodies that will replace the Federal Judiciary Council (CJF) and will focus on the oversight and discipline of judges, magistrates, and even ministers of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN).

The judicial reform also includes the creation of the Judicial Administration Body (OAJ), which will manage the federal judiciary’s budget and decide on the appointments and transfers of judges. Its members were not elected on June 1st, but will be appointed on September 1st by the new Supreme Court justices, the Senate, and President Claudia Sheinbaum.

What will the Disciplinary Tribunal do?

The Judicial Disciplinary Tribunal is the new body responsible for investigating and sanctioning judges, magistrates and all personnel working in the Judiciary accused of committing alleged irregularities.

This is one of the highest-ranking positions the new Judicial Branch will hold, as the Disciplinary Tribunal judges will be able to hear, investigate, substantiate, and sanction judges and magistrates across the country, as well as the justices of the Supreme Court, something the Judicial Council did not have the authority to do.

The Judicial Reform even establishes that these new judges may order, ex officio or by complaint, the initiation of investigations, attract proceedings related to serious misconduct or acts that the law designates as crimes, order precautionary and coercive measures, and sanction public servants who engage in acts or omissions contrary to the law, judicial administration, or the principles of objectivity, impartiality, independence, professionalism, and excellence.

Although the only way to remove the country’s ministers will continue to be through impeachment proceedings before the Congress of the Union.

Before the Judicial Reform, the Judiciary was composed of the Supreme Court and the CJF, which was responsible for both the discipline and administration of the courts and tribunals. The president of the Court presided over both bodies.

However, with the approval of the judicial reform, the Judicial Council was abolished, dividing its functions between the Judicial Disciplinary Tribunal and the Administrative Body, which will no longer be related to the presidency of the Court.

Who Are the Disciplinary Court’s New Judges?

Celia Maya García will preside over the Disciplinary Tribunal

Celia Maya García holds a PhD in Law from the Autonomous University of Querétaro (UAQ) and was twice a Morena candidate for governor of Querétaro. In 2018, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador nominated her as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN ), but she was not elected by the Senate.

Years later, in 2023, López Obrador nominated her to be a member of the Federal Judiciary Council, a position she will hold until becoming president of the Judicial Disciplinary Tribunal on September 1, as she is the candidate who received the most votes: 5,051,283 in last Sunday’s election.

Maya is a political figure close to the former federal president since they were both members of the PRD. She was also a candidate for the Senate of the Republic for the PRD-PT-MC alliance in 2012, and then alone for Morena in 2018. In 2020, she was appointed Magistrate of the Third Section of the Superior Chamber of the Federal Administrative Justice Court by the then President.

According to the INE’s ¡Conóceles! website, Maya served as Deputy Director of Legal Affairs for the National Water Commission (Conagua) from 2019 to 2020. She has experience in the judiciary since 1979, when she served as a Civil Judge in the Third Court of the City of Querétaro until 1985.

Veronica de Gyvés Zárate

Verónica de Gyvés Zárate holds a law degree from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and a master’s degree in law from Ius Semper University. She was nominated by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to serve as a Justice of the Supreme Court in 2021 , but was not elected by the Senate.

In her appearance before the Senate Justice Committee as a candidate for the Court, she said she had no ties to then-President López Obrador: “I can’t consider myself that close, that close…”

Since 2019, she has been a member of the Federal Judicial Council and will remain a Justice of the Federal Judicial Council after the judicial election. She is also a cousin of the Mexican Ambassador to Venezuela, Leopoldo de Gyvés Pineda, and both are originally from Oaxaca.

With 99 percent of the votes counted , Zárate has 4,852,666 votes. She was also one of former President López Obrador’s nominees to be the new head of the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), a position ultimately chosen by Alejandro Gertz Manero.

She is the wife of Rafael Guerra Álvarez, president of the Superior Court of Justice of Mexico City (TSJCDMX), who has remained close to President Claudia Sheinbaum since she was head of government and even attempted to run for a position as a Minister of the Court.

Indira Isabel García Pérez

Indira Isabel García Pérez holds a Master’s degree in Law from the Autonomous University of Colima (UAC). She is the director of the Center for Legal Research and was the head of the Superior Audit Office of the State of Colima , as well as a clerk for the Electoral Tribunal of the State of Colima.

Throughout her professional career, she has held various positions in the Electoral Tribunal of that state and was private secretary to the Colima city council during the PRD government.

His candidacy for the Supreme Court of Justice was nominated by the Executive Branch. Among his main proposals is to exercise oversight of judges from an anti-corruption perspective, ensuring that “the administration of justice should not be carried out solely through highly formal procedures.”

Bernardo Bátiz y Vázquez

Bernardo Bátiz y Vázquez holds a law degree from UNAM and a master’s degree from the Universidad Iberoamericana. He began his political career in the PAN (National Action Party) in 1965 and resigned in 1992. He was appointed Attorney General of the Federal District in 2000 by Andrés Manuel López Obrador, then Mayor of the Federal District.

He was part of the group of politicians who founded the PRD and was very close to López Obrador when he led the party, even serving as his advisor during the presidential campaigns in 2006 and 2012. After the electoral fraud of 2006, he was appointed Attorney General of the “legitimate government.”

In Mexico City, he served as a constituent deputy and coordinator of the Morena legislative group. Bernardo Bátiz was nominated by López Obrador to be Attorney General of the Republic. He is currently a member of the Federal Judicial Council, a position he has held since 2019. Two years later, in 2021, he was nominated to join the Supreme Court but failed to make it.

With 4,471,727 votes, he is the male candidate with the most votes to join the TDJ after the June 1 election.

Rufino H. León Tovar

Rufino H. León Tovar holds a law degree from UNAM and a master’s degree in Constitutional Law from the Center for Legal and Social Studies. Before the judicial elections, he served as president of the First Chamber of the Federal Court of Conciliation and Arbitration (TFCA), a position to which he was directly appointed by Andrés Manuel López Obrador in 2018.

He also served as Director General of Legal Affairs at the Secretariat of Public Security of the Federal District when the former president was mayor.

He also served as Secretary of Mobility and Transportation for the Hidalgo government until 2018 and as General Director of the Mexico City Electric Transportation Service under Marcelo Ebrard.

Among his campaign proposals for the Judicial Disciplinary Tribunal, he asserted that the new Judiciary must “guarantee justice for all, but especially for those who have the least.” In his case, with 99 percent of the votes counted, he received 3,852,699 votes, making him the fifth member of this new body.