In one of his final acts as president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador promulgated a contentious judicial reform. López Obrador, whose six-year term ended on Sept. 30, celebrated the overhaul of the judiciary as a necessity and an important legacy of his government. However, the reform has proven deeply controversial, drawing criticism from Mexico’s supreme court—Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), the private sector, and U.S. critics state it erodes checks and balances, weakens judicial independence and threatens democracy. While López Obrador’s successor and ally, President Claudia Sheinbaum, has expressed support for the reform, it is likely to cause her considerable headaches in the coming months.