Brazil's Congress is pushing a reform of the judiciary as the Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF), the country's top court, goes through an institutional crisis. At least 30 proposals on the subject are pending in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, according to news site G1. Most target the STF itself: fixed terms for justices, a new appointment system and new criteria for a seat on the court.
Two proposed constitutional amendments are circulating in the lower house. Congressman Reginaldo Lopes of the Workers' Party (PT-MG) wants a single, non-renewable term of up to ten years for justices of the superior courts and members of the audit courts. The term would end on the tenth anniversary of the appointment or when the judge turns 75. His text also sets a minimum age of 50 and a maximum of 70 for future nominees. "We should get there by the end of the week," Lopes told Congresso em Foco, about gathering signatures.
Congressman Danilo Forte (PP-CE) filed his own proposal last week. It creates an eight-year term for new STF justices and rotates nominations among the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. It adds conduct and accountability rules for judges and limits monocratic rulings, decisions issued by a single justice. Current members would keep their seats, and the model would be phased in as vacancies open. The Parliamentary Front for Entrepreneurship, a caucus of more than 250 lawmakers, backed the bill on Monday (14) and will help collect signatures when Congress resumes. A constitutional amendment needs the signatures of 171 of the 513 deputies to be formally introduced.
Supreme Court crisis speeds up the debate
The push comes less than a month before the first round of Brazil's general elections, set for October 4. The crisis deepened after Justice André Mendonça lifted the secrecy on Federal Police reports about Banco Master. One document pointed to 52 messages between banker Daniel Vorcaro and Justice Alexandre de Moraes, in-person meetings between the two and a 130 million reais contract between the bank and the law office of Moraes's wife. Court president Edson Fachin split the disputes into separate cases. The trial on the messages began on Tuesday (15) and was interrupted when Justice Flávio Dino asked for more time to review the record.
The debate gained political force last week. The national executive of Lula's Workers' Party approved a resolution on Thursday (10) in defense of the discussion, and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is running for reelection, spoke publicly in favor of fixed terms. "No one can stay 40 years in the same job," Lula said, according to Congresso em Foco. In the Senate, the Human Rights Committee approved on Tuesday (15) a motion by Senator Damares Alves asking the Constitution and Justice Committee to create a working group and deliver a unified text within 60 days. Inside the STF, the body studying the reform has received 87 proposals, and a code of ethics is listed as a priority for Fachin. The next president will likely choose up to four justices in four years: Luiz Fux, Cármen Lúcia and Gilmar Mendes reach mandatory retirement in that period, and the seat left by Luís Roberto Barroso is still open.
The last judiciary reform dates to 2004, when Congress created the National Council of Justice and the National Council of the Public Prosecutor's Office after nearly 13 years of debate. According to Folha de S.Paulo, slow proceedings, a pileup of cases, excessive monocratic rulings and outsized salaries remain among the bottlenecks of the system. Reginaldo Lopes expects to finish collecting signatures by the end of this week. Damares Alves's motion now goes to the Constitution and Justice Committee, which will decide whether to create the working group. At the STF, a trial on Mendonça's conduct is scheduled for September 23, according to BBC News Brasil, and Dino has until December 15 to return the case on Moraes.