The Constitution of Mexico, promulgated on February 5, 1917, is the country’s supreme law. It came out of the Mexican Revolution and was one of the first national charters anywhere to write social rights, worker protections, and communal land rights into the constitution itself, alongside the usual guarantees of individual liberty and the structure of government.1Organization of American States. Political Constitution of the United Mexican States The text splits into two parts. The “Dogmatic” portion, Articles 1 through 29, defines human rights and individual guarantees. The “Organic” portion sets out how federal power is divided among the three branches.
The 1917 text is still the framework, but reading it as written would mislead. The constitution has been amended hundreds of times, and several of those reforms have been transformative rather than technical.
Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination
Until 2011, the constitution’s opening chapter was titled “Individual Guarantees,” which framed protections as things the state chose to grant. A sweeping reform that year renamed the chapter “Human Rights and Guarantees” and rewrote Article 1 to say that every person in Mexico holds the human rights recognized in the constitution and in international treaties ratified by the Mexican state.2Constitute. Constitution of Mexico – Article 1 The change embedded the “pro persona” principle: when a court has to interpret a human rights provision, it must choose the reading that gives the individual the broadest protection.
Article 1 also contains a broad anti-discrimination clause. It prohibits discrimination based on ethnic or national origin, gender, age, disability, social condition, health status, religion, opinion, sexual orientation, marital status, or any other ground that undermines human dignity or diminishes rights.2Constitute. Constitution of Mexico – Article 1 The list is open-ended, which distinguishes it from many constitutions that protect only enumerated categories.
Education, Health, Housing, and Environment
Article 3 establishes education as a right and requires the state to provide free, secular schooling. Basic education (preschool, elementary, and middle school) and high school are all mandatory.3Constitute. Constitution of Mexico – Article 3 The secular rule ties back to freedom of religion under Article 24: state-funded schools must operate apart from religious doctrine.
Article 4 recognizes a right to health protection and a right to a healthy environment.4Constitute. Constitution of Mexico – Article 4 These are enforceable commitments, not preamble language.
A right to adequate housing runs through Article 123. Section A, Fraction XII requires employers to contribute to a national housing fund administered by Infonavit, the Institute of the National Fund for Workers’ Housing, which finances affordable credit for workers to buy, build, or improve a home.5Instituto del Fondo Nacional de la Vivienda para los Trabajadores. Memorandum – International Finance Corporation
How Rights Are Enforced: The Amparo Suit
The primary tool for enforcing constitutional rights in Mexico is the Amparo. It is a judicial proceeding that lets any person challenge a government act, omission, or law they say violates their human rights. Articles 103 and 107 make federal courts the venue and lay out the rules.6Constitute. Constitution of Mexico – Articles 103 and 107 A judge who finds a government act unconstitutional can issue a stay to halt the violation or a definitive ruling restoring the person’s rights. The action starts only at the request of the affected party.
There are two forms. An Amparo Indirecto moves through two levels of review: a district judge hears the case first, and a collegiate circuit court can review on appeal. It is used to challenge government acts, omissions, or the application of a law. An Amparo Directo is resolved in a single proceeding before a collegiate circuit court and targets final judicial or administrative decisions that can no longer be attacked through ordinary appeals.7Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación. Apuntes Procesales Sobre el Juicio de Amparo If a police officer arbitrarily seizes property, the indirect route applies; if a trial court issues a final ruling that a party believes violates their rights, the direct route is the one.
Criminal Justice and Due Process
A 2008 constitutional reform replaced Mexico’s written inquisitorial criminal procedure with oral, adversarial trials held in public courtrooms. The old system was criticized for judicial absenteeism and heavy reliance on written case files that defendants sometimes never saw in full. The new system was phased in over eight years and has been fully operational across all 32 states since June 2016. Judges must be physically present at hearings, and evidence has to be presented and contested in open proceedings.
Article 20 sets out the rights of the accused. A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty by judicial sentence.8Constitute. Constitution of Mexico – Article 20 From arrest, the person must be told the charges and informed of the right to remain silent. Silence cannot be used as evidence of guilt. Any confession made without a defense lawyer present carries no evidentiary weight. Torture, intimidation, and prolonged isolation are prohibited and punishable.
The article also imposes hard time limits. For crimes carrying a maximum sentence of two years, the accused must be tried within four months. For more serious offenses, the limit is one year. Preventive detention cannot exceed the maximum punishment for the charged crime and can never last longer than two years. If the government fails to obtain a sentence within these windows, the defendant must be released.8Constitute. Constitution of Mexico – Article 20
Structure of the Federal Government
Article 49 divides supreme federal power into three branches: Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. No two branches may be united in a single person or body, and legislative power cannot be vested in one individual. The only exception is when the President receives extraordinary powers during a national emergency under Article 29.9Constitute. Constitution of Mexico – Article 49
The Executive
Executive power is vested in a single individual: the President of the United Mexican States. Under Article 83, the President serves one six-year term, the “sexenio,” and may never hold the office again, not even in an interim or caretaker capacity. The President appoints cabinet members, executes federal laws, and conducts foreign relations. Treaties require Senate approval to take effect as supreme law under Article 133.1Organization of American States. Political Constitution of the United Mexican States
The Legislative Branch
Legislative power sits with a bicameral General Congress made up of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The Chamber of Deputies handles budget approvals and fiscal oversight. The Senate concentrates on foreign policy, treaty ratification, and confirmation of certain executive appointments. Members of both chambers are elected through a mixed system that combines direct-vote districts with proportional representation seats, so smaller parties can win seats without winning individual districts.
The Judiciary and the 2024 Reform
Historically, the Supreme Court had eleven justices serving fifteen-year terms, appointed by presidential nomination with Senate confirmation. A 2024 constitutional amendment restructured the court. It reduced the bench to nine justices serving twelve-year terms and, more dramatically, required all federal judges (Supreme Court justices, circuit magistrates, and district judges) to be elected by popular vote.
The first round of judicial elections took place in 2025, with a second wave scheduled for 2027. Turnout was roughly 13% of eligible voters. All nine Supreme Court seats were filled in 2025, and 881 elected federal judges took office in total. Mexico is now the only country that selects its entire federal judiciary through popular suffrage. Supporters of the reform have called it a democratic accountability measure for a branch historically insulated from public input. Critics have raised concerns about judicial independence and the influence of political parties on candidate selection.
Land, Natural Resources, and Foreign Ownership
Article 27 sets out one of the constitution’s most distinctive doctrines: original ownership of all lands and waters within the national territory belongs to the Nation. The government can transfer ownership to private individuals, creating private property, but it keeps the authority to impose restrictions when the public interest demands them.10Consulado De México. Acquisition of Properties in Mexico
Subsoil resources are protected more strongly. The constitution declares that all minerals, gemstones, solid fuels, petroleum, and hydrocarbons in any form are national property, and that ownership is inalienable and cannot be lost through the passage of time.11Constitute. Constitution of Mexico – Article 27 Private parties can obtain concessions from the federal government for most resources. Hydrocarbons sit in a special category with no outright concessions for oil and gas.
A 2013 amendment changed how private capital participates in hydrocarbons without abandoning national ownership. It created four contract types: service contracts, profit-sharing contracts, production-sharing contracts, and licenses that let a company take ownership of oil or gas at the wellhead after paying applicable taxes.11Constitute. Constitution of Mexico – Article 27 Subsoil hydrocarbons remain national property under every contract, and this must be stated explicitly in each agreement. The reform also opened refining, transport, storage, and petrochemicals to private investment and restructured Pemex as a “productive state enterprise.” In 2022, the government declared lithium a strategic resource and placed it under exclusive state control, creating a state entity called LitioMX to manage exploration and extraction.
Article 27 also created the legal basis for the ejido system, which holds land communally for agricultural communities. Reforms in the 1990s loosened some restrictions and allowed ejido members to sell or lease their parcels under certain conditions, but the system still protects rural communities from wholesale privatization.
The Restricted Zone and the Fideicomiso
Article 27, Section I bars foreigners from directly owning land or water within 100 kilometers of an international border or 50 kilometers of the coastline. This is the “restricted zone.”10Consulado De México. Acquisition of Properties in Mexico Much of the country’s most desirable real estate, including beach towns and border cities, sits inside it.
The workaround for residential property is the fideicomiso, a bank trust. A Mexican bank holds title while the foreign buyer becomes the trust beneficiary. The beneficiary can live in the home, rent it out, sell it, or pass the rights to heirs, but every transaction affecting the property has to be approved by the bank. Trusts run for 50 years and can be renewed.10Consulado De México. Acquisition of Properties in Mexico
Setting up a fideicomiso requires a permit from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. By accepting the permit, the foreign buyer agrees to be treated as a Mexican citizen with respect to the property, to submit to Mexican courts in any dispute, and to waive any right to invoke diplomatic protection from a foreign government, on penalty of forfeiting the property.10Consulado De México. Acquisition of Properties in Mexico That last condition has real teeth and is often overlooked.
Foreigners and Political Rights
Article 33 defines a foreigner as anyone who does not qualify for Mexican nationality under Article 30. Foreigners are entitled to all human rights and guarantees the constitution recognizes, with one hard limit: they are strictly prohibited from participating in the country’s political affairs in any way.12Constitute. Constitution of Mexico – Article 33 The President has authority to expel a foreigner from national territory, though the 2011 reforms added a due process requirement: expulsion must follow an administrative hearing conducted according to law.
Labor Protections
Article 123 is where the constitution’s revolutionary origins show most clearly. It puts more detail about workers’ rights into the constitutional text than many countries put in an entire labor code, which means these protections cannot be weakened by ordinary legislation.
The core rules include a maximum eight-hour workday, at least one day of rest for every six days worked, and a minimum wage sufficient to meet the normal needs of a head of household. Workers have the constitutional right to form unions, bargain collectively, and strike. The article splits into two sections: Section A covers private-sector workers across all industries; Section B governs government employees under a separate set of rules and dispute-resolution procedures.
Profit Sharing
Article 123, Section A, Fraction IX requires employers to share 10% of pre-tax profits with employees each year. This is the PTU (Participación de los Trabajadores en las Utilidades). It is a mandatory obligation, not a discretionary bonus. The amount each worker receives is calculated based on their salary and the number of days they worked during the year. Senior executives and general directors are excluded.
Wrongful Termination
An employer who fires a worker without legally justified cause faces a claim for either reinstatement or a severance package. The core component of severance is 90 days of the worker’s daily wage, commonly called the “constitutional indemnification.” On top of that, workers with seniority are entitled to a premium of 12 days’ wages for each year of service. The Federal Labor Law caps the daily rate used for this calculation at twice the applicable minimum wage, which prevents the seniority premium from scaling indefinitely for high earners.
Federal, State, and Municipal Power
Articles 40 and 41 define Mexico as a representative, democratic, and federal republic. The 32 states, including Mexico City, are free and sovereign in their internal governance and can draft their own constitutions, but state law can never contradict the federal constitution.13Constitute. Constitution of Mexico – Articles 40 and 41
Article 115 establishes the “free municipality” as the basic unit of political and territorial organization. Each municipality is governed by an elected council, holds its own legal personality, and manages its own finances. The constitution assigns specific services to municipalities: drinking water and sewage, street lighting, garbage collection, public markets, cemeteries, parks, and local public safety and traffic policing.14Constitute. Constitution of Mexico – Article 115 State legislatures can empower municipal councils to issue local regulations within their jurisdictions.
Every Mexican has a constitutional duty to contribute to public expenditures at federal, state, and municipal levels in proportional and equitable terms set by law. The federal government, through Congress, has exclusive authority over foreign trade taxes and over taxes on the exploitation of natural resources, petroleum products, tobacco, beer, electricity, and other specifically enumerated categories. States receive a share of revenue from certain federal taxes, and state legislatures decide how much of that share flows to their municipalities.15Constitute. Constitution of Mexico – Article 73 Fiscal power is concentrated at the federal level, and states and municipalities depend heavily on federal transfers.
How the Constitution Is Amended
Article 135 sets the bar for amendments. A change requires a two-thirds vote of the members present in Congress, followed by approval from a majority of state legislatures.16Constitute. Constitution of Mexico – Article 135 The threshold is high enough that changes require broad political consensus in theory. In practice, the constitution has been amended hundreds of times since 1917, far more frequently than most national constitutions. Some amendments have been transformative, such as the 2011 human rights reform and the 2024 judicial overhaul. Many others have been narrow and technical. The current constitution is a heavily layered document where decades of reform sit on top of the revolutionary-era framework, and the 1917 original text alone is no reliable guide to what the law says today.