Judicial Politics in Mexico

Andrea Castagnola is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Comparative Politics Department at the University of Bergen and is Assistant Professor at FLACSO-Mexico. Her research focuses on judicial politics in Latin America and comparative politics.Saúl López Noriega is Associate Professor at the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económica (CIDE). He teaches courses on constitutional law and democracy, power, and media. His research focuses on issues of constitutional justice, democracy and constitutional courts, and media concentration.

• IntroductionTom GinsburgChapter 1: The Transformations of the Role of the Mexican Supreme CourtAndrea Pozas-Loyo and Julio Ríos-FigueroaChapter 2: The Law as Power: Strategic Litigation in MexicoPedro Salazar UgarteChapter 3: Are Mexican Justices true arbiters among political elites? An empirical analysis of the Court´s rulings from 2000-2011Andrea Castagnola and Saúl López Noriega Chapter 4: The Supreme Court and the (no) Rights Revolution. An Empirical Analysis of the Court´s Rulings 2000-2011 Andrea Castagnola and Saúl López NoriegaChapter 5: Constitutional Change and the Supreme Court Institutional Architecture: Decisional Indeterminacy as an Obstacle to Legitimacy Francisca Pou Giménez ConclusionMatthew C. Ingram

"This book extends the boundaries of our understanding of the evolving role of the Court in the political evolution in Mexico from 1917 to the more recent process of democratization in this country. Throughout all of the authors’ contributions, this work is a fine-grained analysis that permits us to understand the institutional changes in the Supreme Court and in its relations to other socio-political actors. Employing a wide collection of methodologies and theoretical approaches, the authors contribute in a remarkable way to elucidate not only the Mexican case but also the role of the courts in the dynamics of democratization from a comparative perspective. Indeed, this book is an exciting new contribution for scholars of Mexico and for other interested in the field of comparative judicial politics. To be sure, this edited book will be a useful toolkit for lawyers and political scientists, and for professors and students."Rodolfo Sarsfield, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro"What role does the Mexican Supreme Court play in democratization? This collection answers this question by examine mechanisms by which the court has become empowered and activated throughout the consolidation phrase as well as the court’s decision-making logic and impact on Mexican democracy. It combines qualitative and quantitative analysis, novel data collections, and a host of perspectives into fresh insights on this emblematic case. The result is a compelling analysis that makes a theoretical contribution with practical implications for institutional design."Ryan Carlin, Georgia State University"… opens important avenues for future comparative research."Latin American Research Review