Supreme Court postpones discussion on unofficial preventive detention in Mexico

On July 15 , the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) began its last annual recess under the presidency of Minister Norma Lucía Piña Hernández , who will conclude her term on August 12, 2025 . This transition period occurs in a key context: the arrival of a new composition of the Court, the first formed by popular vote , which will assume functions as of September 1, 2025 .

However, the start of the judicial recess came with news that has sparked discontent among social and human rights groups: the SCJN will not discuss the constitutionality of the Official Preventive Detention (PPO) before this historic change. This issue, considered by many to be an outstanding debt for the Mexican judicial system , has been postponed once again.

Official Pretrial Detention is a legal provision that allows authorities to imprison a person without trial , provided they are accused of certain serious crimes, such as kidnapping, organized crime, or crimes against national security. Unlike justified pretrial detention, in which a judge must assess each case individually, under the PPO , detention is applied automatically , without any risk or proportionality analysis.

Critics of this concept—including international organizations such as the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) —point out that it contradicts fundamental principles such as the presumption of innocence , due process , and the right to personal liberty . It has also been documented that it has been applied in a discretionary and abusive manner, especially against people in vulnerable situations.

In an interview with journalist Ciro Gómez Leyva , Minister Javier Laynez Potisek explained that the PPO issue will not be discussed during the two remaining sessions of the Plenary, scheduled for August 6 and 12. "There is no room to vote on an issue like this... in a hurry," he said, referring to the complexity of the issue and the need for in-depth analysis .

The minister also argued that the decision to postpone the debate is due to the fact that this issue requires being addressed jointly with two different projects : one prepared by Minister Margarita Ríos Farjat , and another derived from compliance with an IACHR ruling . Both documents, he said, offer different solutions that should be carefully analyzed by the next SCJN committee.

The SCJN will also leave other relevant issues unresolved, such as the Pegasus spyware case or the discussion about the " conventionality " of legal concepts like the PPO. According to Justice Laynez, these issues have been put on the waiting list, and their analysis will be the responsibility of the nine justices who will make up the new Court starting in September.

This postponement has been viewed with concern by activists and experts, who had hoped that the current members of the Supreme Court would rule on these practices before the end of their term.

Various groups, human rights organizations, and legal experts have expressed concern over the lack of a decision by the SCJN, especially on an issue that directly impacts the freedom of thousands of people imprisoned without sentencing .

"The Court missed a historic opportunity to consolidate the principle of the presumption of innocence in Mexico," stated a statement issued by the #SinPPO collective, which promotes the elimination of this principle from the criminal justice system.

It has also been suggested that the decision could be politically motivated, at a time when institutions are being redesigned to reflect the new model of constitutional justice proposed by the judicial reform promoted by the Executive Branch.

Although the decision to postpone the analysis of the Official Preventive Detention has generated frustration, it also opens the door for the new SCJN , which will take office in September, to address it with a renewed focus and, possibly, with greater social legitimacy as it is a product of popular election .

The next ministers are expected to consider among their first tasks the analysis of these types of legal concepts, which have been the subject of international rulings, academic criticism, and citizen demands.