Mexico City, March 11 (teleSUR-RHC)-- After enduring four hours of tough questions, controversial Supreme Court nominee, Eduardo Medina Mora, received a stamp of approval from the Mexican Senate Tuesday.

The decision of the Senate -- in spite of a petition presented to the upper house with over 50,000 signatures rejecting Medina as a nominee -- means Medina replaces Sergio Valls Hernandez, who died late last year. Valls was seen a progressive in the Supreme Court, and Medina’s appointment appears set to shift the court to the right. One conservative senator said he was voting in favor of Medina due to his pro-life stance.

Medina, currently serving as the Mexican ambassador to the U.S., previously served as the federal attorney general under then President Felipe Calderon.

As attorney general, Medina presided over a number of controversies such as police crackdowns on social protests, alleged human rights abuses, and the ill-fated war on drug cartels that has caused Mexico to become one of the most dangerous countries in the world. His ties to the Mexican media giant, Televisa, have also come into question.

Moreover, President Enrique Peña Nieto recently selected Arely Gomez, the sister of the vice-president of news at Televisa, to be the new federal attorney general.

The vote in the Senate was split along party lines, with the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution and the Labor Party rejecting Medina's nomination. Meanwhile, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the Green Party of Mexico, and the National Action Party (PAN) voting in favor of his nomination.