Only one week left, January 2, the plenary session of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) met to determine his new presidency, one of the candidates for the position, Minister Yasmin Esquivelface accusations of plagiarism in his undergraduate thesis which not only gets in the way, but also opens up two detrimental scenarios: facing impeachment lawsuits or that people’s pressure is growing that they called him to resign from the highest court for “serious causes”.

The charges against Esquivel began last Wednesday, when writer Guillermo Sheridan published an article on the site Latinus where pointed out similarities between Esquivel’s thesis and a paper presented a year earlier by a Law Faculty student. FES Aragón of UNAM —formerly ENEP, where Esquivel studied— made the announcement will conduct an in-depth study of the casewhile the UNAM Library Directorate General himself reported on Friday evening that it had been found “high level match” between the two documents.

Esquivel denied plagiarism and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador stood by him Friday morning, when he minimized the situation in his daily press conference. He said that even if Esquivel was wrong, it is “as a student”and alleged that Sheridan and other intellectuals had done more “damage” to the country.

Political court scene

While the minister sought to defend himself with letters from his professors—such as Martha Rodríguez Ortíz, the director of his thesis—, the Constitution considered mechanisms by which sanctions could be requested against him.

According to Magna Carta, Esquivel or other public officials might face impeachment if it is proven that in carrying out their functions they committed “acts or omissions that are detrimental to their fundamental public interest or their actual position.” This possibility is set out in article 110, which as a sanction provides for dismissal and disqualification from holding public office.

The impeachment request was made before Congress but, according to lawyers Luis Tapiafor this path to go forward “first the FES Aragón has to announce, that is, the university authorities have to decide that there was plagiarism and determine the consequences and, based on this, the Congress can declare it”.

He is also a lawyer francisco burgoa He agreed that formally there was a way to request a political trial against the minister, although for this it would first have to be confirmed that he was committing plagiarism.

“Number one: we have to start from the fact that we are facing a situation that is completely unprecedented in the history of our country. I don’t recall a situation like this appearing at the highest levels of the administration of justice, such as the case of a minister or minister of the Supreme Court,” he said in an interview.

“But I see it as very complicated, because in order to proceed with impeachment, it has to be formally proven that this person, Yasmín Esquivel, was really involved in plagiarism,” he added.

If there is a request for impeachment, both chambers must intervene in the process and approve it by a majority vote. In such a scenario, it is possible that the sanctions against Esquivel will be stopped by legislator Morena, President López Obrador’s partywhich promotes the arrival of the current minister in Court.

.@lopezobrador_ minimizing accusations of plagiarism against Minister Yasmín Esquivel’s thesis: “Any mistake made by the minister when he was a student is far less than the damage done by Krauze and writer Guillermo Sheridan in Mexico.” pic.twitter.com/3OBpu6BQRm

– Political Animals (@Pajaropolitico) December 23, 2022

Scenario of resignation due to “serious causes”

Another scenario is, in the face of criticism and social pressure, the minister himself will submit his resignation. Article 98 of the Constitution states that the resignation of the Ministers of the Court “will only proceed for serious reasons.”

Tapia said in this regard that this option would only apply if UNAM determined that plagiarism existed, as Esquivel “would no longer fulfill, at least, one constitutional requirement to be a minister.”

Article 95, section III, of the Constitution states that ministers must have a law degree with a minimum of 10 years seniority upon appointment.

The closest precedent with the resignation of a minister occurred in October 2019, when Eduardo Medina Mora submitted his resignation to the highest court. Although he did not reveal the reason, his resignation occurred in the midst of a criminal investigation into the possibility of misappropriation of his and his family’s assets.

Burgoa considers that the concept of “serious causes” is very broad and subjective.

“Given his flexibility to speak about ‘serious causes’, he could without hesitation submit his resignation, which would not have happened, after he publicly admitted that he committed plagiarism,” the lawyer said.

“Another ‘serious cause’ that he could argue about, which would be the most dignified way out, that I also don’t see that scenario as possible unless he receives great pressure, is for him to say that if his person were to offend the teachings of justice at the highest level like The Supreme Court will not affect the credibility of the Court and therefore it is better to step aside, without admitting to having committed plagiarism,” he said.

Tapia, meanwhile, explained that the Federal Judicial Council (CJF), the other weighty body on the Judiciary, unable to act in this casegiven that he does not have the competence to sanction ministers.

Moral damage or revocation of professional license

Another scenario proposed for future ministers, if proven to have committed plagiarism, has to do with the possibility of the person being affected, namely the person who plagiarized the thesis, filed a claim for moral damages against Esquivel“Scenarios that could exist, but in the end go through a civil process, not through a criminal process,” said Burgoa.

Likewise, if UNAM declares his thesis invalid and his Bachelor of Laws degree is revoked, so will SEP I can take your professional licenseconditions for trading.

“Here I hope that UNAM itself undertakes the task of carrying out an authentic review with 100% technical-academic criteria and determines what seems clear enough to all of us: that there is plagiarism, not of paragraphs like Enrique Peña Nieto, but of a complete practical thesis. If UNAM said that nothing happened, so I think the game on UNAM’s credibility, its academic prestige in dealing with situations like this, also happened,” concluded Burgoa.