José Melgar Castillejos v. Pres. of the Republic

José Melgar Castillejos’s daughter initiated an action for the involuntary confinement of Melgar Castillejos as mentally incompetent. Before the trial on the merits, pursuant to a procedure set forth in Article 904 of Mexico’s Federal District Code of Civil Procedure, a court issued an interlocutory detainment order, assigned a guardian to Melgar Castillejos, and seized his assets. Although Mexican law provided that a trial on the merits could follow the initial detainment order, the initial procedure under Article 904 did not provide Melgar Castillejos any opportunity to present evidence of his competency before the interim detainment and seizure of his assets. A district judge subsequently issued a writ of protection against the procedure in Article 904 on the grounds that the procedure incorrectly presumed incapacity without sufficient evidentiary support and did not permit the person accused of incompetency to speak and defend himself. The district judge issued a writ of protection and ordered that the confinement order against Melgar Castillejos be withdrawn and that the entire procedure under Article 904 be invalidated as unconstitutional. Melgar Castillejos’s daughter appealed to the Mexico Supreme Court, but then, at Melgar Castillejos’s urging, withdrew the request for appeal. The Mexico Supreme Court still reviewed the case to examine the president of the republic’s arguments for validation of Article 904 as constitutional. [Ed.’s note: The pretrial procedure under Article 904 is outlined in detail in the casebook excerpt.]