Brazil's vice president, Geraldo Alckmin, called on Saturday (19) for fixed terms and a code of ethics for the justices of the Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF), the country's top court. Speaking to reporters during a visit to the city hall of Ribeirao Preto, in Sao Paulo state, he was direct: "Nothing should be for life."

Alckmin pointed to the European model of ten to fifteen year terms. "I have always defended a term. Nothing should be for life, healthy rotation. It is a term like in Europe, 10 years, 12 years, at most 15. That is healthy, you are always renewing," he said. On conduct rules for the justices, he added: "There has to be a code of ethics, a code of conduct, to establish what is allowed and what is not."

The Master Bank case

The remarks came as the court is split over the Master case, tied to the failed bank of businessman Daniel Vorcaro. Alckmin said the court's president, Edson Fachin, took a "correct step" when he spoke about lifting secrecy in the investigation, without specifying which decision he meant. "Nothing should be hidden. Transparency is essential in public life. The greater the responsibility and the authority, the greater the accountability must be, not the privilege," he said.

According to Alckmin, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wants the facts examined whoever is involved. "What has President Lula asked for? The truth, the truth. Investigate, no matter who it is," he said. He noted that the judiciary is an independent branch of government and said Lula carried out "the first judicial reform," which created the National Council of Justice (CNJ) and the National Council of the Public Prosecutor's Office (CNMP), the two oversight bodies for judges and prosecutors. The government, he said, will push for a new reform.

Not a new position

Alckmin first made the argument publicly on May 5, in an interview with GloboNews, days after the Senate rejected Lula's nominee Jorge Messias, the first such rejection since 1894, according to news site Metropoles. Under the current rules, STF justices serve until mandatory retirement at 75. Creating fixed terms requires a change to the Constitution. Justice Flavio Dino himself backed the idea as a congressman and later as Lula's justice minister.

The Ribeirao Preto event mixed government business with campaigning: Alckmin appeared with Mayor Ricardo Silva and state legislature candidate Duda Hidalgo, alongside Simone Tebet, Marcio Franca and Jose Luiz Datena. The court has become a campaign issue in the 2026 election after several justices were named in the Master investigation. The next moves are institutional. Without a constitutional amendment approved by Congress, the seats stay tenured for life. Inside the court, according to the Andreia Sadi blog at g1, the pending decision on who leads the Master investigation rests with Fachin.