Article 100 Political Constitution of the United Mexican States

The Judicial Discipline Tribunal shall be a body of the Federal Judiciary with technical, management and decision-issuing independence.

The Discipline Tribunal shall be composed of five persons elected by the citizenry at the national level in accordance with the procedure established in article 96 of this Constitution.

To be eligible, the Magistrates of the Judicial Discipline Tribunal must meet the requirements indicated in article 95 of this Constitution and be persons who have distinguished themselves for their professional capacity, honesty and honorableness in the exercise of their activities. They shall serve six years in their charge, shall be replaced in a staggered manner and may not be elected for a new term. Every two years the presidency of the Tribunal shall be renewed on a rotating basis according to the number of votes obtained by each candidacy in the respective election, with the presidency corresponding to those who obtain the highest vote.

The Judicial Discipline Tribunal shall function in Plenary and in commissions. The Plenary shall be the substantiating authority in the terms established by the law and shall resolve in second instance the matters within its competence. It may order ex officio or by complaint the initiation of investigations, attract procedures related to serious faults or acts that the laws indicate as crimes, order precautionary and enforcement measures and sanction the public officials who incur in acts or omissions contrary to the law, to the administration of justice or to the principles of objectivity, impartiality, independence, professionalism or excellence, in addition to the matters that the law determines.

The Tribunal shall conduct the administrative responsibility procedure in first instance through commissions formed by three of its members, who shall act as substantiating and resolving authority in the matters within their competence. Its resolutions may be challenged before the Plenary, which shall resolve by majority of four votes, in the terms indicated by the law. The decisions of the Tribunal shall be definitive and unassailable and, therefore, no proceeding or remedy whatsoever proceeds against them.

The Tribunal shall conduct its investigations through a unit responsible for compiling and presenting to the Plenary or to its commissions the reports of probable responsibility, for which it may order the collection of indications and means of proof, require information and documentation, carry out inspections, call to appear and admonish persons who provide elements of proof, request precautionary and enforcement measures for the development of its investigations, among others that the laws determine.

The Tribunal may give notice to the competent Public Prosecutor's Office (Ministerio Público) in view of the possible commission of crimes and, without prejudice to its sanctioning attributions, request the impeachment proceedings (juicio político) of the adjudicating persons elected by popular vote before the Chamber of Deputies.

The sanctions issued by the Tribunal may include the admonishment, suspension, economic sanction, dismissal and disqualification of the public officials, with the exception of Ministers of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation and Electoral Magistrates, who may only be removed in the terms of Title Four of this Constitution.

The Tribunal shall evaluate the performance of the Circuit Magistrates and the District Judges who are elected during their first year of exercise and shall apply training and permanent updating programs, for which it may coordinate with the National School of Judicial Training. The law shall establish the methods, criteria and indicators applicable to the corresponding evaluation processes.

The law shall indicate the criteria, methodologies, stages, areas involved in the evaluation processes and monitoring of results, guaranteeing the transparency, impartiality and objectivity of the evaluation processes and of the evaluating persons, as well as the procedures to order the following corrective or sanctioning measures when the corresponding evaluation is unsatisfactory:

a)Strengthening measures, consisting of training activities and others tending to reinforce the knowledge or competencies of the evaluated person, at the end of which a new evaluation shall be applied, and

b)When the public official does not favorably pass the evaluation that derives from the corrective measures ordered or refuses to comply with them, the Tribunal may order their suspension of up to one year and determine the actions and conditions for their reinstatement. Once the year of suspension has elapsed without satisfactorily passing the evaluation, the Tribunal shall resolve in a founded and reasoned manner the dismissal of the public official, without responsibility for the Federal Judiciary.

The Magistrates of the Discipline Tribunal shall exercise their function with independence and impartiality. During their charge, they may only be removed in the terms of Title Four of this Constitution.

The judicial administration body shall have technical and management independence, and shall be responsible for the administration and judicial career of the Federal Judiciary. It shall have in its charge the determination of the number, division into circuits, territorial competence and specialization by subject matter of the Circuit Collegiate Tribunals, of the Collegiate Tribunals of Appeal and of the District Courts; the entry, permanence and separation of the judicial career and administrative personnel, as well as their training, promotion and performance evaluation; the inspection of compliance with the norms of administrative functioning of the Federal Judiciary; and the others that the laws establish.

The Plenary of the judicial administration body shall be composed of five persons who shall serve in their charge six non-extendable years, of which one shall be designated by the Federal Executive, through the person holding the Presidency of the Republic; one by the Senate of the Republic by qualified vote of two thirds of its members present; and three by the Plenary of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, with majority of six votes. The presidency of the body shall last two years and shall be rotating, in terms of what the laws establish.

Those who make up the Plenary of the judicial administration body must be Mexicans by birth, in full exercise of their civil and political rights; have minimum professional experience of five years; and hold a bachelor's degree in law, economics, actuarial science, administration, accounting or any professional degree related to the activities of the judicial administration body, with minimum seniority of five years; and not be disqualified to perform an employment, charge or commission in the public service, nor have been convicted of an intentional crime with a penalty depriving of liberty.

During their charge, the persons who make up the Plenary of the administration body may only be removed in the terms of Title Four of this Constitution. In case of death, resignation or definitive absence of any of the persons who make it up, the authority that designated them shall make a new appointment for the time remaining in the respective designation period.

The law shall establish the bases for the training, evaluation, certification and updating of officials, as well as for the development of the judicial career, which shall be governed by the principles of excellence, objectivity, impartiality, professionalism, independence and gender parity. The judicial administration body shall have an auxiliary body with technical and management autonomy called the National School of Judicial Training, responsible for designing and implementing the processes of training, capacitation, evaluation, certification and updating of the judicial career and administrative personnel of the Federal Judiciary, its auxiliary bodies and, where applicable, of the personnel of the local Judicial Powers, prosecutors' offices, public defender's offices, bodies for the protection of human rights, public security institutions and of the general public, as well as carrying out the competitive examinations to access the different categories of the judicial career in terms of the applicable provisions.

The public defense service in matters of the federal jurisdiction shall be provided by the judicial administration body through the Federal Institute of Public Defense, in the terms that the applicable provisions establish. The National School of Judicial Training shall be in charge of capacitating the public defenders, as well as carrying out the competitive examinations.

In accordance with what the law establishes, the judicial administration body shall be empowered to issue general agreements for the adequate exercise of its functions. The Judicial Discipline Tribunal may request from the judicial administration body the issuance of general agreements or the execution of the resolutions that it considers necessary to ensure an adequate exercise of the federal jurisdictional function in the matters within its competence.

The judicial administration body, at the request of the Plenary of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, may concentrate in one or more jurisdictional bodies the hearing of the matters linked to acts that constitute serious violations of human rights. The decision on the suitability of the concentration must be taken based on social interest and public order, which shall constitute an exception to the rules of turn and competence.

The judicial administration body shall prepare the budget of the Federal Judiciary. The budgets shall be sent by said body for their inclusion in the draft Budget of Expenditures of the Federation.

In the sphere of the Federal Judiciary, funds, trusts, mandates or analogous contracts that are not provided for in the law may not be created or maintained in operation.