Mexican Law Review

Rebuilding Democracy and the Rule of Law in the United States After Trump: Reflections on Bruce Ackerman

Roberto Antonio Cabrera y Rodríguez — 2026-07-01

The article analyzes Bruce Ackerman’s lecture at the UNAM Law Faculty on rebuilding American democracy after Trump. It argues that Donald Trump’s presidency illustrates several dangers Ackerman identified in The Decline and Fall of the American Republic, including the growing concentration of presidential power, plebiscitary leadership, politics driven by emotional appeals, and the expansive use of emergency powers. To address these risks, Ackerman proposes reforms aimed at restoring checks and balances, including the creation of a Supreme Executive Tribunal and stronger Senate oversight of the White House. The article, however, argues that these reforms may be insufficient in a context of deep political polarization and democratic erosion. It suggests that institutional engineering alone cannot protect democracy. The defense of constitutional government also requires political pluralism, organized opposition, and a robust public sphere capable of limiting executive power.

Right of Access to Environmental Information on Fauna Protection in the Integrated Transportation System in the Aburrá Valley, Colombia

Jorge Eduardo Vásquez Santamaría — 2026-06-15

The Integrated Transportation System of the Aburrá Valley (SITVA, from its original name in Spanish) regularly receives reports of animal injuries, mutilations and deaths. The Legal Clinic (LC) at Universidad Católica Luis Amigó in Medellín set in motion a clinical exercise between March 2023 and April 2024, in which we posed to the authorities the following research questions: How is alleged ambiguity in the environmental institutions responsible for protecting fauna framed in Colombia’s legal system? and How do availability, up-to-datedness and access to environmental information affect the public’s perception of a situation for it to be considered an issue? We gathered data from six legal requests for information filed with the competent entities, to then analyze the availability, up-to-datedness and access to the environmental information on the protection of fauna.

Air Quality and Precautionary Measures: The Future of Environmental Litigation Under Mexico’s 2024 Judicial Reform

Bernardo Bolaños-Guerra — 2026-06-08

The juicio de amparo—often translated as constitutional relief—is one of Mexico’s most distinctive contributions to global constitutionalism, recognized by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) for its capacity to provide the complainant with effective remedies. In recent history, the amparo enabled plaintiffs to obtain suspensiones (precautionary suspensions) of general laws and administrative measures. Environmental litigants relied on this tool to secure urgent protections, in exceptional cases achieving definitive results before the final ruling. At the same time, monopolies and corporate actors weaponized the amparo to block regulation and entrench privileges, constraining democratic decision-making. The 2024 reform limits the judiciary’s power to suspend general norms, curbing both the leverage of corporate actors and the capacity of civil society to prevent environmental harm. The challenge for the newly elected judiciary is to navigate this delicate balance: remaining responsive to democratic legitimacy while adhering strictly to constitutional principles, so that the amparo continues to serve as a safeguard for rights without becoming either a counter-majoritarian veto or an instrument of transient majorities.