Opinion: Biden criticizes Mexico’s judicial reforms even as he does the same

A leftist president who will soon be leaving office is pushing to reform his country’s judicial branch in ways that would undermine long-standing constitutional checks and balances so that his female successor, who is even further to the left, will be able to ram through far-left policies. Oh, and that president defends his effort by claiming he’s protecting democracy.  Am I talking about Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, known as AMLO, or U.S. President Joe Biden? The answer is yes. And here’s the kicker. Biden is denouncing AMLO’s efforts even as he seeks to do essentially the same thing.

While the process to secure AMLO’s judicial reforms is somewhat different than Biden’s, the goals are the same. AMLO is on the verge of achieving his goals. Fortunately, Biden’s effort will likely face significant Republican resistance.

As a Bloomberg report explains , AMLO’s “constitutional reform proposal, whose core goal is to select the Supreme Court and all federal judges by popular election,” was approved last week by the required two-thirds vote in the Senate. The amendment had already passed the lower house.

Now the amendment goes to Mexico’s states, which are mostly controlled by AMLO’s Morena party , for approval.

Bloomberg adds, “Lopez Obrador’s proposal seeks to elect approximately half of Mexico’s federal judges by popular vote in 2025, including all Supreme Court justices . The other half would be replaced in 2027, when electoral court judges are expected to be elected.” [Emphasis added.] The “electoral court” is Mexico’s Federal Electoral Tribunal , which counts and certifies elections.

AMLO’s opponents assert the changes “will end the independence of the judiciary since the newly elected judges will respond to political interests.” The country’s high court has frequently stood in the way of AMLO doing what he wanted, just as the U.S. Supreme Court has blocked many of Biden’s unconstitutional actions.

And that’s why Biden and most Democrats want to “reform” the Supreme Court. The process is different. Biden isn’t seeking to have federal judges and Supreme Court justices elected. He doesn’t need that to transform the court into a Democratic shill.

Democrats just need the House of Representatives and Senate to pass legislation to “pack the court” by adding four more leftist justices of the president’s choosing. The leftist justices would then outnumber the conservatives seven to six and, voila, the court would affirm much of what the Democrats want.

Biden is also proposing Supreme Court term limits of 18 years . Mexico’s high court judges are already term-limited to 15 years. AMLO wants to change that to 12 years. Higher turnover on the court — whether in Mexico or the U.S. — means the president can reward more allies more often.

The headline on the Bloomberg article says it all: “Mexico passes judicial reform cementing Morena’s power.” Substitute “Washington” for “Mexico” and “Democrat’s” for “Morena’s” and you have the headline Biden, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and other Democrats hope to see — soon.

Now comes the bizarre part: The Biden administration is criticizing Mexico’s reforms, creating something of an international incident. U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar said last August that AMLO’s changes posed a risk to “Mexico’s democracy and that they threaten ‘the historic commercial relationship’ between the two countries,” according to the Associated Press . But AMLO, like Biden, argues his reforms would strengthen democracy.

The warning angered AMLO, who claimed the U.S. ambassador was being “disrespectful of our national sovereignty.” No word on whether letting millions of immigrants pass through Mexico to enter the U.S. illegally is disrespecting U.S. national sovereignty.

How is AMLO justifying the need for judicial reform? He claims it will root out judicial corruption. Democrats are using the same justification .

You may have noticed that Biden and Democrats, along with their mouthpieces in the media, have frequently accused some conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court justices of “corruption” — defined by Democrats as justices who refuse to uphold Biden’s unconstitutional executive orders. Democrats are even trying to impose a code of ethics on the court as a propaganda tool to convince the public that the court is plagued with scandals.

Both AMLO and his Morena party and Biden and Democrats say the current judicial system is a threat to democracy . But what they really want is a high court that kowtows to progressive demands.

If voters put Kamala Harris in the White House and give Democrats control of both houses of Congress, they will likely see that headline: “Washington passes judicial reform cementing Democrats’ power.”

Merrill Matthews is a public policy and political analyst and the co-author of “On the Edge: America Faces the Entitlements Cliff.” Follow him on X@MerrillMatthews .

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