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For the first time in history, the Supreme Court of Mexico chose a woman as its president, the Associated Press reported.

Justice Norma Lucia Piña was sworn in for a four-year term as head of the 11-member court, pledging to uphold the independence of the country's highest judiciary.

"The independence of the judicial system is indispensable in resolving conflicts between the authorities in government," Piña said yesterday, when presenting his work plans.

"My main proposal is to work to build majorities, putting aside my personal vision."

As President of the Supreme Court, Piña will also head the entire judiciary.

She is not considered an ally of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and opposition parties welcomed her election.

In the vote, five were against and six were in favor, despite pressure from Obrador.

López Obrador had given his support to another judge, Yasmin Esquivel, but recently there were allegations that Esquivel had plagiarized in her bachelor's thesis in the late 1980s, writes BTA.

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The state university where the lawyer received her bachelor's degree is still investigating the case.

Esquivel's thesis, submitted in 1987, was identical to the text in another student's thesis, defended a year earlier.

Esquivel claimed that the earlier thesis copied hers.

The president pushed a number of controversial laws through Congress, but they were blocked by the courts.

Because of this, the election of his ally as President of the Supreme Court was of key importance to him. 

He said yesterday that "the judiciary has been hijacked" and that it has been "obscured by money and economic power".

However, Senator Olga Cordero, a former interior minister under López Obrador, welcomed Piña's election as president of the Supreme Court.

"Now is the time of human rights, the time of women," Cordero wrote on his social media accounts.

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