Overview
- The Supreme Court’s plenary unanimously invalidated Article 15 of the Passport Regulations, which allowed officials to demand additional proof when a birth was registered more than three years after birth.
- The case arose from an amparo by a citizen denied a passport in Tijuana due to an extemporaneous birth certificate, a protection first granted by a District Court and affirmed by the high court.
- The ruling, authored by Minister Yasmín Esquivel, emphasized harm to people in rural, Indigenous, and marginalized contexts, where timely civil registration is often difficult.
- The decision opens the door for the Court to seek a general declaration of unconstitutionality, a step that could trigger nationwide changes once formally presented to the Court’s presidency.
- Ministers stated the Foreign Ministry may not disregard civil registry documents or impose extra proofs on late-registered births, though no immediate regulatory changes were announced.