A sitting justice on Mexico’s Supreme Court is now facing a second serious accusation of plagiarism.
In a bombshell reportFriday, the Spanish newspaper El Pais found that nearly half of Justice Yasmin Esquivel’s 2009 doctoral dissertation was copied from the works of a dozen authors, including several prominent lawyers and academics. An attorney representing Esquivel responded to the report saying it was not a case of plagiarism but carelessness with citations.
The revelations come in the wake of Mexico’s largest university confirming that her undergraduate law thesis was also plagiarized, which she denies.
“I believe that trust has now been lost in a judiciary that already had the challenge of earning the public’s trust,” said Luis Tapia, a human rights attorney and professor who has had cases before the Mexican Supreme Court.
