Amicus curiae. Consideraciones sobre el control de constitucionalidad de las reformas constitucionales.

Abstract

Amicus curiae: Considerations on the Judicial Review of Constitutional Amendments

The goal of this amicus curiae, submitted in October 2024 to the Supreme Court of Mexico by fifty professors working in the domain of comparative constitutional law, is to contribute to the debate on the September 2024 judicial reform by providing information on the criteria applicable to cases where the constitutionality of constitutional amendments is examined. The amicus refers to the practice whereby constitutional courts examine the validity of amendments on grounds of procedural defects, substantive defects, or both, with the aim of distinguishing regular exercises of amending power from abusive or spurious exercises. The amicus also reconstructs existing case law on the issue of the validity of constitutional reforms in Mexico and argues that, in the absence of conclusive criteria and given the nature of the judicial reform from the perspective of preserving the basic rules of democracy, it is necessary for the Supreme Court to again assess the issue and clarify the limits of the amendment power as a constituted power.