the Mexican Republic or the Federal
District, or Governor or Head of Govern-
ment for the Federal District are barred
from serving as justices for one year after
the conclusion of their respective terms.
This restriction does not exist for public
officials in the U.S.
The procedure by which justices are
appointed to the Supreme Court allows
for discussion in both the U.S. and
Mexico and does not leave the power to
appoint solely in the hands of the ex-
ecutive power. In Mexico, the president
sends a slate of three candidates to the
Senate so that they can decide on who
will be appointed. In the U.S., the presi-
dent nominates the justices, and such
nomination is ratified by the Senate.
In the U.S., once the appointment
is approved by the Senate, associate
justices have life tenure, subject to good
behavior. In Mexico, Supreme Court
justices serve a 15-year term, which is
an approach that seems more adequate,
as it allows the renewal of the court upon
the expiration of each justice's term.
Mexico has adopted the same approach
as the U.S. as far as not imposing a
maximum age limit to serve as a justice;
however, Mexico does have a minimum
age requirement set at 35 years of age.
had parallel historical developments. In
the U.S., the Supreme Court has nine
members, while the Mexican court has
11. In Mexico, this number was once 26
members. The number of Supreme Court
justices in the U.S. has changed between
six, seven and nine members, as it stands
today. Former U.S. President Franklin
D. Roosevelt unsuccessfully attempted
to change the composition of the court
despite his influence during a time in
which he had great political control. His
attempt at restructuring was futile and
merely led to a serious confrontation be-
tween the executive and judicial powers.
As far as leadership of the supreme
courts, both countries have different
approaches. In Mexico, the president
of the court is designated by the associ-
ated justices to serve a four year term,
while in the U.S., the chief justice is
nominated by the president, subject to
ratification by the Senate. In Mexico, it's
a requirement that the president of the
court be a current justice of the Supreme
Court, while in the U.S., the chief justice
does not have to be chosen from existing
members of the Supreme Court.
There are differences between the
jurisdictions of the two courts given the
power with which each is vested. While
the Mexican Supreme Court is over-
whelmed by numerous matters, the U.S.
cases each year. The very nature of these
two courts is also different. The Supreme
Court of Justice is up to date on what
takes place throughout the entire judicial
branch in the country and effectively
carries out its role as head of the Judicial
Power of the Federation. On the other
hand, the Supreme Court of the U.S. does
not hear administrative or governmental
matters. A decentralized and efficient or-
ganization is in charge of matters outside
the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of
the U.S. in order to allow it to perform its
paramount judicial role.
Professional training is not an ob-
stacle to serving on the Supreme Court of
the U.S. Unlike the majority of countries,
the U.S. does not require its justices to
be licensed attorneys; however, it is only
logical for the majority of the associate
justices to be licensed attorneys, even
though this is not mandated by law. Su-
preme Court justices typically hail from
the most prestigious schools in the U.S..
In particular, Harvard University is the
academic institution that has contributed
the most associate justices, 20 to be ex-
act. Throughout the history of this court,
only five justices have been self-taught
given that they did not have a formal
legal education.
In Mexico, out of 11 justices, the
president of the Supreme Court, Juan
Silva Meza, along with Luis María Agui-
lar, Olga Sánchez Cordero, Margarita
Luna Ramos and Sergio Valls studied at
the UNAM School of Law, and Fernando
Franco, Jorge Mario Pardo Rebolledo
and Arturo Zaldívar studied at the
Escuela Libre de Derecho. Two justices
studied at public state universities
José Ramón Cossío at the Universidad de
Colima and Guillermo Ortiz Mayagoitia
at the Universidad Veracruzana. Sergio
Salvador Aguirre studied at a private
univeristy, the Universidad Autónoma
de Guadalajara. The last two justices
mentioned above finished out their terms
on the last day of November 2012; there-
fore, the Senate will determine who will
fill these vacancies on the court based on
two slates sent by the President.