The Superior Court of Justice (TSJ) in Mexico City has been the reign of Rafael Guerra for six years. The jurist, close to Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has been its president since 2019 and is seeking to be re-elected again this Friday. But this time, for the first time since his tenure, the voices calling for change have become louder. Judges Celia Marín and Rosalba Guerrero – who had already run for office in other elections – insist that it is “time for women” and that Guerra’s stay no longer gives credibility or good management to the capital’s highest court. The TSJ is also experiencing a complex moment after the murder of lawyer David Cohen on its doors and the delay in hundreds of judicial matters due to protests and strikes by its workers.
The plenary session of the Superior Court of Mexico City, made up of 79 judges, will have to elect this Friday at noon who will occupy the presidency until 2027, the date on which this position will be voted on. This is the last time that the head of the local grand court will be elected by his peers and not through public elections. To win office, the incumbent president needs at least 53 votes, a qualified majority of two-thirds. “Now no one wears them,” judge Celia Marín tells EL PAÍS. The judge assigned to the Fifth Criminal Chamber appeared for 2019 and 2022 against Rafael Guerra. Last time he even asked for re-election. However, on those dates he obtained neither the votes nor the judicial victory. Rosalba Guerrero also appeared on the first occasion the current president was elected. However, both tell this newspaper that the scenario has changed since then.
One Monday in October, in broad daylight, lawyer David Cohen was murdered in the heart of the local judiciary. In one of the areas with the highest presence of security agents per square meter of the city, two hitmen shot the litigant, who died a few hours later in hospital. The case shook the capital. Prosecutor Bertha Alcalde ordered a review, as a line of investigation, of all cases Cohen had worked on. Some experts interpreted this decision as an affront to Rafael Guerra, the powerful president of the Court, for his alleged closeness to the litigant. Guerra denied all this, and also denied that they would meet that same day: “There was no date, no informal meeting, no conversation between Cohen and Guerra.”
Be that as it may, the attack has aroused fear among those working in the judiciary. “We feel unsafe. There are already two attacks on the doors of our institution, it is very serious”, describes Judge Marín, also referring to the gun attack against a driver also at the entrance to the TSJ. Not only that, this year for 34 days the workers of the local Judicial Section maintained a strike in their offices to protest against wages and working conditions. Employees said the capital’s justice system is “on the verge of collapse” due to years of “delay, simulation and improvisation.”
During his mandate, Guerra shut down, with a written process, 24 courts in civil matters and 12 in family matters, to implement the so-called National Code of Civil and Family Procedure. “We had until April 2027 to start it, I think we were in a hurry and we did it without good planning. This caused the strike due to the discontent of the staff who saw their workload increase for the same salary”, explains Rosalba Guerrero. “Guerra has all the responsibility. He manages the administration, the resources, the jurisdiction… He was the one who generated all this chaos,” says Celia Marín. Both mention the enormous backwardness that prevails in the TSJ, exacerbated by the extinction of 36 courts.
“The last patriarchal bastion”
The two judges insist it is time for a woman to take the reins of the capital’s High Court. It would be the second time in history. The first happened 37 years ago with Clementina Gil. Both Marín and Guerrero, separately, list that there are already a woman in the presidency, a head of government and 12 female governors, also tied in Congress. “This court is the last patriarchal bastion,” remarks Celia Marín, who has been with the TSJ for more than 30 years: “Patriarchy permeates the deepest layers of the institution, it is reflected in the staff and in the sentences. From the presidency, this need for equality and gender parity is not made visible, but rather this patriarchy is allowed, tolerated and encouraged.” Rosalba Guerrero, of the Fifth Civil Chamber of the TSJ and with 36 years of experience in this body, states that “solving with a woman’s face is not a trend”.
The two candidates, interviewed by this newspaper, do not find the value that Guerra will be able to bring to the leadership of the TSJ. A source within the court – who prefers to remain anonymous – recalls that Guerra is very “at ease with the regime”. Celia Marín also underlines in this sense: “These are issues of corruption, political clientelism, of voting hard (for Guerra) for other commitments.”
It is no secret the power that Guerra has acquired within the highest local justice body. The magistrate, who was supposed to end his role on September 1st, obtained an extension from the capital’s Congress a day earlier until the end of the year and allowed him to run for president again. In the judicial elections, Guerra tried to run for the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), but did not pass the selection because he did not meet the academic average.
After this hitch, a move was made – supported by Gerardo Fernández Noroña in the Senate – so that his wife, Verónica de Gyves, who was part of the Federal Council of the Judiciary (CJF) and was not competing for any position, was automatically included in the list of candidates for the Disciplinary Tribunal. De Gyves – like Celia Maya and Bernardo Batiz – appeared in the accordions set up by Morena to lead the vote and today is one of the five members of the supervisory body of the entire judiciary. On Friday we will know whether her husband also continues to be one of the most powerful faces in the heart of the city.
