Eduardo Tomás Medina-Mora Icaza (
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...
; 30 January 1957) is a Mexican lawyer. He served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Mexico from 10 March 2015 to 8 October 2019, when the Mexican Senate approved his resignation following an ongoing investigation by the country's Financial Intelligence Unit.
Medina-Mora was the
Attorney General of Mexico
The Attorney General of the Republic is the head of the Attorney General's Office (''Fiscalía General de la República, FGR''; prior to 2019, ''Procuraduría General de la República, PGR'') and the Federal Public Ministry of the United Mexi ...
(PGR) under President
Felipe Calderón
Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa (; born 18 August 1962) is a Mexican politician who served as the 63rd president of Mexico from 1 December 2006 to 30 November 2012 and Secretary of Energy during the presidency of Vicente Fox between 2003 ...
(1 December
2006-7 September
2009).
Political career
Prior to his Supreme Court Appointment and subsequent resignation, Medina-Mora also served
Ambassador of Mexico to the United States
The Ambassador of Mexico to the United States is the highest ranking diplomatic representative of the United Mexican States to the United States of America.
Brief history
Mexico and the United States have maintained diplomatic relations since 1 ...
(2013–15), ambassador to the United Kingdom, Attorney General in the cabinet of the former President of Mexico,
Felipe Calderón
Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa (; born 18 August 1962) is a Mexican politician who served as the 63rd president of Mexico from 1 December 2006 to 30 November 2012 and Secretary of Energy during the presidency of Vicente Fox between 2003 ...
(2006–09), headed the
Secretariat of Security and Civilian Protection (2005–06) under former President of Mexico
Vicente Fox
Vicente Fox Quesada (; born 2 July 1942) is a Mexican businessman and politician who served as the 62nd president of Mexico from 1 December 2000 to 30 November 2006. After campaigning as a right-wing populist, Fox was elected president on the ...
.,
and as the director of the now defunct National Center for Intelligence and Security from (2000–05).
After a nine-year career in intelligence and security, President Calderon appointed Medina-Mora as Mexico's Ambassador to the United Kingdom; Medina-Mora was confirmed by the
Senate on 12 November 2009 with 84 votes in his favour and 7 abstentions. No votes against his designation were received.
On 23 February 2010, Medina-Mora presented his credentials to
Queen Elizabeth II at
Buckingham Palace accrediting him as Mexico's representative to the United Kingdom. The Ambassador attended the ceremony accompanied by his wife, Laura and officials from the Mexican Embassy.
Medina-Mora was the Mexico's Ambassador in the United States presenting his credentials to President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
on 14 January 2013. He is also a member of the advisory board for the
Mexico Institute.
On 10 March 2015, he was elected as Minister of the Mexican
Nation's Supreme Court of Justice. He resigned as
Ambassador of Mexico to the United States
The Ambassador of Mexico to the United States is the highest ranking diplomatic representative of the United Mexican States to the United States of America.
Brief history
Mexico and the United States have maintained diplomatic relations since 1 ...
that same day. On 3 October,
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
, Justice Medina-Mora Icaza resigned from the
National Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN) after it was revealed he is under investigation by the country's Financial Intelligence Unit. In his time on the bench, Medina-Mora was a strong advocate for business interests, but also for the legalization of medical cannabis,. He also voted to decriminalize abortion in cases of rape.
''Top Gear'' controversy
Following a broadcast of the television programme ''
Top Gear
Top Gear may refer to:
* "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission
Television
* ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme
* ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...
'' on 30 January 2011, during which the presenters made several derogatory slurs depicting a stereotypical portrayal of Mexican culture and people, Medina-Mora wrote to the BBC about comments made by
Richard Hammond,
Jeremy Clarkson
Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born 11 April 1960) is an English broadcaster, journalist, game show host and writer who specialises in motoring. He is best known for the motoring programmes '' Top Gear'' and '' The Grand Tour'' alongside R ...
and
James May
James Daniel May (born 16 January 1963) is an English television presenter and journalist. He is best known as a co-presenter of the motoring programme '' Top Gear'' alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond from 2003 until 2015. He also ...
about himself and
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
, demanding a public apology from the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
Medina-Mora has been seen as close to the Mexican right-wing PAN party, because he started to work as government official after being designated by the first PAN president of Mexico, Vicente Fox, and continued in to work in key government positions during that government and during Fox successor, president Felipe Calderon, also a PAN party affiliate.
Controversy arose regarding his bad reputation and eligibility as Minister of the Supreme Court of Justice for resigning as Ambassador to Mexico in the United States the same day he got elected as Minister because the Mexican Constitution stipulates in Article 95 that to be eligible as Minister you need to reside in the country for the past two years.
Additionally, his credentials were heavily criticized by Mexican scholars and Twitter campaigns appeared with the hashtag "#NoHaganMinistroaMedinaMora" ("Do not make Medina Mora Minister").