Eduardo Medina-Mora Icaza

Eduardo Medina-Mora Icaza
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation
Incumbent
Assumed office 10 March 2015
Appointed by	Enrique Peña Nieto
Preceded by	Sergio Armando Valls
Mexico Ambassador to United States
In office 14 January 2013 – 10 March 2015
President	Enrique Peña Nieto
Preceded by	Arturo Sarukhán
Succeeded by	Alejandro Estivill (Acting)
Attorney General (Mexico)
In office 1 December 2006 – 7 September 2009
President	Felipe Calderón
Preceded by	Daniel Cabeza de Vaca
Succeeded by	Arturo Chávez Chávez
Secretary of Public Safety (Mexico)
In office 28 September 2005 – 30 November 2006
President	Vicente Fox
Preceded by	Ramón Martín Huerta
Succeeded by	Genaro García Luna
Personal details
Born	(1957-01-30) 30 January 1957 Mexico City[1]
Nationality	Mexican
Alma mater	National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)
Occupation	Lawyer and politician
Religion	Roman Catholic

Eduardo Tomás Medina-Mora Icaza (born 30 January 1957 in Mexico City) is a Justice of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation. Ambassador of Mexico to the United States from 2013 to 2015. He is a Mexican lawyer who served as Attorney-General in the cabinet of President Felipe Calderón from 1 December 2006 to 7 September 2009^[2] and as Secretary of Public Safety from 2005 to 2006 in the cabinet of President Vicente Fox.^[1] He previously served as head of the Center for Research and National Security (CISEN) from December 2000 to September 2005.^[1]

In 2009 President Calderon sent to the upper house of the Congress the designation of Medina-Mora as Mexican Ambassador to the United Kingdom; Medina-Mora was confirmed by the Senate as Ambassador on 12 November 2009 with 84 votes in his favour and 7 abstentions. No votes against his designation were received.^[3]

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.^[4]

Medina-Mora was the Mexican ambassador to the United States presenting his credentials to President Barack Obama on 14 January 2013. He is also a member of the advisory board for the Mexico Institute.

On March 10, 2015, he was elected Justice of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation. He resigned as Ambassador of Mexico to the United States that same day.

Top Gear controversy

Following a broadcast of the television programme Top Gear 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 and James May about himself and Mexico, demanding a public apology from the BBC.

Eligibility Controversy

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.^[5]

Also his credentials were heavily criticized by Mexican scholars and Twitter campaigns appeared with the hashtag "#NoHaganMinistroaMedinaMora" ("Do not make Medina Mora Minister").^[6]

References