The most senior justice on Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF), Gilmar Mendes, publicly called fellow justice André Mendonça a "campaign prop" and an "electoral pixuleco" on Thursday (Sept. 17). The attack appeared in a social media post defending Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet and deepens an open conflict inside Brazil's top court over the Banco Master investigation.
Gilmar wrote that Mendonça, the reporting judge for the Banco Master investigation, exposed Gonet needlessly. According to the post, Mendonça had acknowledged in session that nothing implicated the prosecutor. "In the courtroom, the rapporteur himself acknowledged, loud and clear, the integrity of Gonet's conduct and admitted that there was nothing against him. Nothing. So why expose him?" Gilmar wrote. Then came the direct insult: "Whoever acts like this is not an impartial judge: he is a campaign prop, an electoral pixuleco", using a Portuguese slang word for a puppet.
Gilmar also wrote that Gonet "has an unblemished reputation and a public life of unquestioned integrity" and argued that "no one undoes a headline with a late correction in the courtroom". He compared the release of the Federal Police report to what he described as the selective publicity of the Lava Jato corruption probe, named former judge Sergio Moro and former prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol, and wrote that "a serious institution respects due process from the first act".
Mendonça's response
Mendonça answered with a formal note on Thursday morning. Without naming Gilmar, he cited Article 36 of Brazil's organic law on the judiciary, which bars judges from publicly commenting on pending cases, and said the request to lift the secrecy of the entire investigation did not come from him. "It came from those who now claim to be outraged by the publicity of the case files," he wrote. Mendonça added that the full lifting of secrecy was ordered by Chief Justice Edson Fachin, that he has ordered an inquiry into every improper disclosure, including a phase on leaks tied to a Federal Police employee, and that the court should adopt a code of ethics covering how justices address one another, a proposal backed by Fachin.
"The rapporteur never threatened anyone with public disgrace, nor used improper language to push anyone out of a judgment. Nor did he ever turn the courtroom into a stage or a circus ring, shouting at the top of his lungs to disguise empty insinuations, devoid of any minimally acceptable legal basis, with bullying. Disagreement is legitimate and part of a collegial court. What is illegitimate is the attempt to pressure the judge."
Tuesday's session
The insults on Thursday escalate a clash that began in Tuesday's (Sept. 15) session, called to examine references to Justice Alexandre de Moraes in the Federal Police report on the Master case. In that session, Gilmar had already called Mendonça a "pixuleco" and an "electoral prop" and accused him of "recklessness" and "shamelessness". Mendonça demanded respect; Gilmar replied "go ahead and cry, go ahead and cry". Gonet, mentioned in the report for messages attributed to him on the phone of former Master owner Daniel Vorcaro, denied any closeness to the former banker and described their single conversation as "brief and banal".
The session ended without a decision on Moraes. The full court was voting a procedural motion filed by Gilmar himself, asking that the Moraes case be joined with the proceeding involving Mendonça, when Justice Flávio Dino requested time to review the case. The partial vote stood suspended at 4 to 3 for keeping the proceedings separate, and no date has been set for the judgment to resume. The clash among the justices comes less than three weeks before the first round of Brazil's presidential election, scheduled for Oct. 4.