The Mexican government must reconsider its controversial judicial reform plans. The UN human rights body is calling for this. Special Rapporteur Margaret Satterthwaite said today of the announced reforms that she was “deeply concerned about the significant implications for the independence of the judiciary.”

There have been intense protests against these plans in Mexico in recent weeks. Protesters, including court workers, took to the streets in various parts of the country yesterday.

One plan is to switch to electing judges. Leftist populist President Lopez Obrador says this is necessary to fight corruption in the country. But critics fear that would compromise the independence of judges.

They point to clashes between López Obrador and the judiciary. For example, he has accused the Supreme Court of favoring criminals without providing evidence. He has also criticized members of the court after they voted against his previous reform plans.

For now, the president himself is dismissive of any criticism of his plan. When the U.S. ambassador suggested last week that the plan would put pressure on trade relations between neighboring countries, López Obrador dismissed it as interference in internal affairs.

Ambassador Ken Salazar said that “democracy cannot function without an independent and uncorrupted judiciary.” The American noted that Mexico’s powerful organized crime could benefit from the arrival of inexperienced judges.

But the Mexican government has called the criticism unacceptable. In his defense, López Obrador pointed to the fraught history between the two countries, with the United States having left its mark on Mexican decision-making for decades.

The reforms go beyond introducing an electoral system for judges. The government also wants to abolish a number of independent regulatory bodies. The directors of Mexico’s electoral council should also be elected, according to the plan.

“What all this does is make the next president more powerful,” one of the protesting lawyers told an Associated Press reporter yesterday. Claudia Sheinbaum is scheduled to begin her presidency on Oct. 1. She is a member of the same party as López Obrador.