Justices aligned with Alexandre de Moraes on Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) are weighing a move to disqualify colleagues Kassio Nunes Marques and Luiz Fux from Tuesday's vote. According to Folha de S.Paulo, the plan is for one of Moraes' three supporters, Gilmar Mendes, Flávio Dino or Cristiano Zanin, to raise a procedural motion questioning whether the two can vote at all. It will be the first time the full court meets to debate the crisis that has engulfed it.
The motion will cite alleged ties between the sons of both justices and Banco Master, Folha reports. A consultancy linked to lawyer Kevin Marques, Kassio's son, received 6.6 million reais from the bank, and lawyer Rodrigo Fux, Fux's son, was a guest of former banker Daniel Vorcaro, Master's owner, in a VIP box at Rio's Sambadrome during the 2025 Carnival. The paper describes Kassio and Fux as the two justices closest to André Mendonça. Moraes and his allies argue the reports may signal a conflict of interest that the full court must examine before turning to the substance of the messages Vorcaro sent.
What is at stake on Tuesday
Court president Edson Fachin put only one case on Tuesday's agenda: the suspicions against Moraes raised in a Federal Police report requested by Mendonça. He left off the docket a separate case alleging abuse of authority and illegal methods by Mendonça himself. On Saturday (12), Fachin stripped Mendonça of the reporting role and took the case himself, in a ruling that cites a possible application of Article 144, item IV, of the Civil Procedure Code, which covers when a judge is barred from a case. According to G1, the investigations into Banco Master and the INSS pension scandal were sent to the court's presidency.
In the session, the justices will debate the validity of the Federal Police report, weigh a nullity request from the Attorney General's office and decide whether to open or shelve an investigation of Moraes. The sitting will be broadcast on TV Justiça, the court's channel, with restricted access to the chamber, and Fachin, as rapporteur, votes first and sets the order of debate.
Justice Dias Toffoli has signaled he will not vote, having already declared himself conflicted in Master-related cases. Aides to three justices nonetheless consider it impossible to avoid the report naming Toffoli as the final beneficiary of a fund that received 35 million reais from Vorcaro, Folha reports. The Moraes camp also plans to raise Mendonça's 2025 meeting with Vorcaro and the allegation that the justice received a suit as a gift from people tied to the former banker, which he denies.
The Mônica Bergamo column in Folha reported that justices in the group have said that if the court is to be cleaned up, every member's rot should be exposed on the same day. One magistrate described the coming session as a potential "institutional carnage", according to the paper. If the procedural motion is filed, the full court must rule on whether Kassio and Fux can vote before any ballot on the merits.