Abstract

CORTEZ SALINAS, Josafat  and  SAAVEDRA HERRERA, Camilo. The judgment belongs to those who work it: organizational structure and constitutional justice in Mexico (1996-2005). Perf. latinoam. [online]. 2021, vol.29, n.58, 00002.  Epub June 19, 2023. ISSN 0188-7653.  https://doi.org/10.18504/pl2958-002-2021.

What role do organizational structures play in constitutional justice? This article explores the role of the Unidad de Controversias Constitucionales y Acciones de Inconstitucionalidad (UCCyAI) in ruling drafting within the Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación along the period 1996-2005. At theoretical level, it proposes a first classification of the organizational structures for ruling drafting in constitutional justice institutions to contextualize the Mexican experience and show that, as a centralized structure, the Unit hindered justices’ control over judicial recruitment and ruling drafting. Empirically, using the UCCyAI as a case study and employing an original dataset of more than thousand cases, the article shows, first, that the delegation of ruling drafting was extensive as the Unit’s staff drafted the 80% of the Court’s rulings in constitutional controversies and actions of unconstitutionality adjudicated in the period 1996-2005; and second, that such extensive delegation produced high levels of uniformity in decision-making and judicial interpretation.

Keywords : Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación; Mexico; organizational structure; law clerks; constitutional justice; constitutional review; judicial behavior; judicial politics; Latin America.

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