Supreme Court Deems Mexico Power Reform Constitutional, but ‘Endless Litigation’ Feared Ahead

Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled last Thursday that key components of legislation passed in 2021 to overhaul the country’s electric industry law (known by its Spanish initials LIE) do not violate the constitution.

The decision is a victory of sorts for President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, although the law still faces numerous challenges in lower courts. Multiple legal injunctions halted the law’s implementation shortly after it was passed. 

The reform modifies the electricity dispatch order from a merit-based model in which the cheapest power sources are dispatched first, to one in which generation assets owned by state power company Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) would receive priority. 

CFE’s hydroelectric plants would be called upon first, followed by its...