Mexico’s Supreme Court faces an extraordinary situation, with plagiarism accusations against a sitting justice confirmedby her law school, and the justice herself insisting that she’ll continue to serve on the country’s highest court.
Asked by the outlet Milenioon Monday if she intended to resign, the beleaguered Justice Yasmin Esquivel said she had no such intention nor anything to be ashamed of.
That declaration came after a whirlwind of developments. Last week, the National Autonomous University of Mexico — or UNAM — confirmed that Esquivel’s 1987 thesis was a substantial copy of a thesis defended by another student the year before. However, the major public university said it did not have the power to strip Esquivel of her degree, and that it would be up to the federal education ministry to do so.
On Monday, a top ranking Mexico official saidthat the ministry in fact does not have that power and that UNAM is being formally asked by the ministry to take additional steps in the matter.
