Who Is Norma Lucia Pina? Mexico's Supreme Court Elects First Female President

Mexico's Supreme Court elected a female president to lead the nation's highest judicial body for the first time in history. Justice Norma Lucia Pina was sworn in for a four-year term as president.

With a 6-5 majority vote, the justices chose Pina to lead the country's highest court and will lead the 11-member court.

Who Is Norma Lucia Pina?

• Justice Norma Lucia Pina takes over from Arturo Zaldivar. The charged debate regarding who should lead the Supreme Court took a turn after a media report alleged that another contender, Justice Yasmin Esquivel plagiarised Pina's undergraduate thesis.
• The accusation triggered an investigation by Esquivel's alma mater, the National Autonomous University of Mexico ).
• Esquivel denied the accusation.
• Justice Pina said, "Judicial independence is indispensable in resolving conflicts between the branches of government. My main proposal is to work to build majorities, leaving aside my personal vision".
• Reportedly, Pina's election could bring the Supreme Court and President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador into further confrontations.
• Previously, the Supreme Court had blocked a number of his policies and Pina had sparred with him over issues such as the energy policy.

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• The Mexican lawyer has been a justice of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation since December 1, 2015.
• On January 2, 2023, she was elected as the President of the Court (Chief Justice).
• Prior to becoming a Supreme Court justice, Pina worked at the Manual M Acosta Pedogeological Experimentation Elementary School at the Meritorious National School of Teachers.
• Pina is the eleventh woman to reach the highest rank in the Mexican Judiciary, the Supreme Court.
• Pina has a doctorate in law from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, which is also Esquivel's alma mater.
• She is a criminal law specialist, with a certificate from the Panamerican University in Mexico City in 1997.