‘Caso INAI’: la SCJN necesita hacer más para garantizar su operación
The Supreme Court has ruled that the Senate is committing an omission by failing to appoint the missing commissioners of the INAI, the body responsible for guaranteeing citizens' right to access public information. This decision confirms that the lack of a minimum number of members paralyzes the institution, preventing it from functioning effectively despite legal mandates requiring its full composition. The ruling validates the constitutional obligation to staff the agency, exposing the Senate’s refusal as a breach of duty rather than a mere political dispute. This situation represents a severe attack on democratic foundations, as it materializes a state of opacity that denies citizens the ability to scrutinize government actions. When a democratic institution is rendered inoperable, the fundamental right to know and judge public representatives is compromised. The deliberate understaffing, supported by the executive branch’s dismissal of the INAI’s utility, transforms a legal requirement into a structural failure, highlighting how transparency mechanisms can be sabotaged from within the political elite. This case is critically relevant to open data because it demonstrates that technical frameworks for data transparency are fragile without robust institutional enforcement. Open data initiatives rely on independent oversight bodies to ensure accountability and prevent arbitrary withholding of information. Without a fully operational INAI, the integrity of open data ecosystems is undermined by political interference, proving that legal access rights are insufficient if the institutions mandated to protect them are intentionally disabled.
Source: vanguardia.com.mxPublished on 2023-07-15