The Court invalidates requirement to be from Quintana Roo for judicial leadership

The Plenary of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation declared Unconstitutionality Action 38/2025, promoted by the National Human Rights Commission, to be well-founded, and annulled the normative portion “and from Quintana Roo” which required being a citizen of that entity to hold the Rectory of the Judicial University of the Judiciary of the State of Quintana Roo. The ruling, issued by a unanimous vote of nine in a session on January 13, 2026, is published in the Official Gazette of the Federation number 224/2026, dated Tuesday, August 18, 2026, along with the concurring opinions of four ministers.

The action was filed on March 6, 2025, by María del Rosario Piedra Ibarra, then president of the National Human Rights Commission, who challenged Article 7, fraction I, of the Organic Law of the Judicial University of the Judiciary of the State of Quintana Roo, reformed by Decree Number 094, published on February 4, 2025, in the Official Gazette of the entity. The matter was assigned to instructing minister Alberto Pérez Dayán, and the draft resolution corresponded to rapporteur Arístides Rodrigo Guerrero García.

The challenged requirement

The norm established that, to be the head of the Rectory of the Judicial University, it was required “to be a Mexican and Quintana Roo citizen, in full exercise of their civil and political rights.” The Plenary considered that this requirement introduced an unjustified exclusion for access to a public office of a technical-academic and administrative nature, based on an element unrelated to merit, capacity, and professional suitability.

• The requirement absolutely excluded any Mexican person who did not hold the status of a Quintana Roo citizen.
• The distinction had no functional relationship with the direction, management, or academic leadership tasks of the Rectory.
• The measure did not pass the first stage of the reasonableness test, as it lacked a constitutionally legitimate purpose.

Scope of the declaration

The invalidity extended, as a consequence, to Article 10, fraction I, in its normative portion “and from Quintana Roo,” of General Agreement 1/2025 of the Plenary of the Judicial Council of the State Judiciary, which reproduced the same requirement, and the Regulations of the Judicial School of the entity were repealed. The effects of the declaration will take effect upon notification of the resolutive points to the Legislative and Executive powers of Quintana Roo, without retroactive effects.

Concurring opinions

Four members of the Plenary formulated concurring opinions, agreeing with the invalidity but diverging from the methodology:

• Minister Sara Irene Herrerías Guerra maintained that the measure should have been analyzed under strict scrutiny, as it involves a distinction covered by the anti-discrimination clause of Article 1 of the Constitution.
• Minister Loretta Ortiz Ahlf distanced herself from the methodology used to identify the concepts of invalidity.
• Minister Giovanni Azael Figueroa Mejía proposed applying a simple reasonableness test, concluding that the status of being from Quintana Roo is not an indicator of technical capacity or suitability.
• Minister Irving Espinosa Betanzo considered that state origin constitutes a suspect category that justified strict scrutiny.

The resolution, certified in Mexico City on July 10, 2026, orders its publication in the Official Gazette of the Federation (Diario Oficial de la Federación), the Official Gazette of Quintana Roo, and the Judicial Weekly of the Federation (Semanario Judicial de la Federación) and its Gazette. The ruling establishes a criterion of national scope: local geographic origin requirements for accessing technical-academic public positions are unconstitutional when they bear no relation to merit and function, which obliges local legislatures to review similar provisions.

Source: Official Gazette of the Federation, no. 224/2026, August 18, 2026, Judicial Branch, pp. 173-198 (official reference: Unconstitutionality Action 38/2025).