The president of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF), Edson Fachin, ordered on Saturday (12) the removal of Justice André Mendonça as relator of the case that examines a supposed relationship between Justice Alexandre de Moraes and former banker Daniel Vorcaro. The file now goes to the court presidency, which Fachin holds. In the same ruling, he required Mendonça to send the full records of the investigations into the INSS, Brazil's federal social security institute, and Banco Master to the presidency. In the STF, the relator is the justice who reviews a case and writes the report that opens the debate.
Fachin justified the move on the grounds that the judgment of the case could create a situation of impedimento, in which a judge is barred from hearing a matter. The case is docketed as PET 16.662. It discusses the federal police report that Mendonça commissioned.
"Considering the possibility that the result of the deliberation in PET 16.662 may warrant the application of article 144, item IV, of the Code of Civil Procedure, I determine, under article 13, item XV, of the Internal Rules of the Supreme Federal Court, that the Judicial Secretariat substitute the rapporteurship of PET 16.662 to the Presidency of the Supreme Federal Court," the president wrote in the ruling, as quoted by G1.
On Master and the INSS, Fachin cited a filing by Moraes himself. "By the same grounds, and considering the content of the manifestation by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, I determine the remittance to the Presidency of PETs 15.041 and 15.556, with all cases related to them," the ruling says. According to G1, the two investigations are frozen until Fachin issues a new order. He can take the two case files himself once the records reach the presidency, or he can put the question to the full bench.
Tuesday's session
The swap changes the session set for Tuesday (15). Fachin, who replaced Mendonça as relator, is expected to open the meeting with the reading of the report on the facts found by the federal police, and he is expected to cast the first vote, depending on what the justices decide. The agenda covers the validity of the police report, which some justices criticized on the grounds that Mendonça had a colleague investigated without authorization from the full bench. The justices will also rule on a nullity request filed by the Prosecutor General's office (PGR) and decide whether to open or shelve an investigation of Moraes. The PGR argues that Mendonça should not have requested the examination of the recipient of Vorcaro's messages without a request from prosecutors or the police itself, and that only the full bench can decide on any probe involving Moraes.
The ruling lands in what Folha de S.Paulo describes as the biggest crisis in the recent history of the court, with Moraes and Mendonça at its center. On Tuesday (8), Mendonça ordered the removal of Andrei Rodrigues as head of the federal police; the measure reached the court's Second Chamber, where a majority had formed, and the vote was suspended on a review request for more time by Justice Gilmar Mendes. On Wednesday (9), according to Folha, Fachin had already stripped Moraes of the file on Vorcaro's messages. On Friday (11), he denied a request by Gilmar to add the investigation of Mendonça to Tuesday's agenda and scheduled it for September 23.
The full bench judges the Moraes case on Tuesday (15). The investigation of Mendonça goes to the bench on the 23rd. Until then, the Master and INSS inquiries stay frozen while Fachin decides who will run them.