Olga María del Carmen Sánchez Cordero Dávila (born 16 July 1947) is a Mexican politician and former

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

. She served as Secretary of the Interior under President

Andrés Manuel López Obrador Andrés Manuel López Obrador (; born 13 November 1953), also known by his initials AMLO, is a Mexican former politician, political scientist, public administrator and writer who served as the 65th president of Mexico from 2018 to 2024. He se ...

from 2018 to 2021, the first woman to serve in the position. From 1995 to 2015, she was an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of Justice, Mexico's highest federal court. A member of Morena, she has been elected to both the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

and the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

Early life and education

Sánchez Cordero was born in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

on 16 July 1947. She studied law at the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...

(UNAM). While at UNAM, she was a participant in the in

1968 student protests The protests of 1968 comprised a worldwide escalation of social conflicts, which were predominantly characterized by the rise of left-wing politics, Anti-war movement, anti-war sentiment, Civil and political rights, civil rights urgency, youth C ...

. She later received judicial training at the Autonomous University of Nuevo León, the Autonomous University of Morelos, as well as the University College of Swansea in

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Sánchez Cordero was the first female

notary public A notary public ( notary or public notary; notaries public) of the common law is a public officer constituted by law to serve the public in non-contentious matters usually concerned with general financial transactions, estates, deeds, powers- ...

in Mexico City.

Judicial career

After graduating from law school, she later became secretary of school affairs at the UNAM Faculty of Law, serving from 1976 to 1978. From 1980 to 1984, she was director of the seminar of general and legal sociology at UNAM. Sánchez Cordero served on the Supreme Court Justice of the Federal District (Mexico City) from 1993 to 1995.

Supreme Court of Justice

She was appointed Minister (Associate Justice) of the

Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (, SCJN) is the Mexican institution serving as the country's federal high court and the spearhead organisation for the judiciary of the Mexican Federal Government. Judges of the SCJN are appointed ...

(SCJN) by President

Ernesto Zedillo Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León (; born 27 December 1951) is a Mexican economist and politician. He was the 61st president of Mexico from 1994 to 2000, as the last of the uninterrupted 71-year line of Mexican presidents from the Institutional Re ...

. Her nomination was confirmed by the

on 26 January 1995. Her appointment made her the ninth woman to hold a seat on the SCJN. She left the position on 30 November 2015.

López Obrador administration and Senate

In December 2017,

(then a

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

presidential candidate) released his proposed list of Cabinet appointments, with Sánchez Cordero as his choice for Secretary of the Interior. She was chosen by Morena to serve on its national list for the 2018 Senate election, and took office on 1 September 2018 as part of the 64th session of

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

. She resigned from the Senate on 29 November 2018 and took office as Secretary of the Interior on 1 December 2018. Her appointment made her the first woman to serve in the position. Sánchez Cordero resigned as Secretary of the Interior in 2021 and was succeeded by Adán Augusto López, the Governor of Tabasco. She returned to the Senate on 26 August 2021 to support the López Obrador administration's legislative agenda. Sánchez Cordero was elected President of the Senate, and served in the position until 30 August 2022, when she was succeeded by

Alejandro Armenta Mier Alejandro Armenta Mier (born 9 July 1969) is a Mexican politician. He originally belonged to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) but switched his allegiance to the National Regeneration Movement (Morena) in 2017. Since 14 December 2024, ...

. Sánchez Cordero declined to run for president in the 2024 election. She advised

Claudia Sheinbaum Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo (born 24 June 1962) is a Mexican politician, energy and climate change scientist, and academic who has served as the 66th president of Mexico since 2024. She is the List of elected and appointed female heads of state and ...

during her candidacy for Morena's presidential nomination. She indicated in an interview that she did not intend to join Sheinbaum's cabinet if elected. In the 2024 election, she was elected to the

as a plurinominal deputy for the 2024–27 term.

Political views

Sánchez Cordero is a self-described

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

. She is a supporter of efforts to decriminalize

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

throughout the country. ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'' describes her as a "

social liberal Social liberalism is a political philosophy and variety of liberalism that endorses social justice, social services, a mixed economy, and the expansion of civil and political rights, as opposed to classical liberalism which favors limited g ...

" and "European-style

social democrat Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

." Sánchez Cordero is a supporter of

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

. She has argued that the criminalization of

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

has contributed to

violence Violence is characterized as the use of physical force by humans to cause harm to other living beings, or property, such as pain, injury, disablement, death, damage and destruction. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines violence a ...

and deprivation, and supports decriminalization efforts. In 2024, she advocated for a state-backed social program to assist women looking to enter the workforce.

Personal life and recognition

Sánchez Cordero is married to Eduardo García Villegas and has three children. She and her husband own an apartment in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, United States. She reported income of MXN $10,688,288 in 2019, including her salary of MXN $1,914,432 plus investments. In 2013, she ranked first on ''Forbes Mexico'''s list of the fifty most powerful women in the country.

References

Mexican women judges Mexican women in politics Presidents of the Senate of the Republic (Mexico) National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation justices Lawyers from Mexico City Politicians from Mexico City Living people 1955 births Members of the Constituent Assembly of Mexico City Secretaries of the interior of Mexico Morena (political party) politicians Female interior ministers Women secretaries of state of Mexico Cabinet of Andrés Manuel López Obrador 20th-century Mexican judges 21st-century Mexican judges 20th-century Mexican lawyers 20th-century Mexican women lawyers 21st-century Mexican lawyers 21st-century Mexican women lawyers 20th-century women judges 21st-century women judges {{authority control