Justice Secretary (Mexico)

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The **Secretary for Justice** (Spanish: **Secretario de Justicia**), colloquially known as the **Justice Secretary**, is a senior government position in Mexico and a member of the Council of Ministers. Within the Mexican order of precedence, the secretary for justice is the fifth highest civil office. The office's control over the Mexican judiciary and public prosecution service historically made the secretary for justice one of the most powerful and influential figures within government - however, in recent years the role has become a mid level position typically granted to less prominent members of government or a junior partner in a coalition.

As the head of the Secretariat of Justice, the secretary for justice is responsible for oversight of the government's judicial system, the state prosecution service, and for the process of nominating and appointing judges. Whilst the court system remains judicial independence, the Secretariat of Justice is responsible for ensuring its smooth operation and provides civil servants and funding to maintain the courts. Additionally, the ministry also sets instructions over the interpretation of laws and is required to ensure that all other government departments abide by the law - to this extent, some sub-departments within the ministry are partially or wholly autonomous, and are not subject to the instructions of any political appointee. The justice secretary is personally accountable to both the prime minister and to congress, and is expected to inform congress of the actions of the Secretariat of Justice through legislative questioning, select committees, and the publication of written statements.

Similarly to all government ministers, the secretary for justice is appointed by the emperor at the recommendation of the prime minister, though the emperor retains the power to reject a recommendation. The incumbent officeholder must either be a sitting member of the Congress of Mexico, a member of the civil service, a member of the judiciary, or a serving member of the armed forces in order to hold office, but is not subject to any term limits for their position. Instead, they serve at the pleasure of the emperor, who has the power to dismiss the secretary for justice at any given point. Similarly, the Congress of Mexico also has the power to remove the justice secretary from office with a simple majority vote, but the emperor can veto any such resolution. Like most other cabinet ministers, the secretary for justice is bound by departmental responsibility; this means that any failures of the Secretariat of Justice are automatically considered to be failures of the incumbent minister, who is consequently expected to offer their resignation to either the emperor or the prime minister.

The office of secretary for justice was first created in September 1821, alongside the offices of Foreign Secretary and Treasury Secretary, during the first days of the reign of Emperor Agustín I and his prime minister Valentín Gómez Farías. Since the office's creation, there have been 12 people to hold office as secretary for justice, across 15 separate periods in office. The longest serving justice secretary was Miguel Ramos Arizpe, who served for 31 years and 18 days between 1821 and 1852. The shortest serving justice secretary was Manuel Garza Aldape, who served for 285 days between 1916 and 1917, though José Ignacio García Illueca served a shorter period of 105 days from 1869 to 1870 during his second term.

## See Also

* President of the Council of Ministers of Mexico