A war of "liminares", the preliminary injunctions that individual justices of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) can grant on their own, has piled pressure on Chief Justice Luiz Edson Fachin to announce a concrete step against the crisis gripping the tribunal. Justices phoned Fachin on Wednesday (9) shortly after Justice Flávio Dino reversed the removal of Federal Police director-general Andrei Rodrigues and intelligence director Leandro Almada, which fellow Justice André Mendonça had ordered the day before. According to reporting by TV Globo, one of the calls came from Mendonça himself, who called Dino's ruling "illegal" and demanded action.
The back-to-back rulings pointing in opposite directions within 24 hours led court members to conclude there is no longer room to wait for the standoff to settle on its own, according to accounts given to the newspaper O Globo and republished by InfoMoney. In private conversations, justices argued that Fachin must take control of the crisis and curb the factions around Alexandre de Moraes and Mendonça. The prevailing view behind the scenes is that both groups have ridden roughshod over the president's prerogatives. Under pressure, Fachin canceled Wednesday's plenary session and was expected to receive Moraes, the court's vice president, later in the day. O Globo also reported that Mendonça considers the ruling illegal but does not plan to challenge it in the case records.
What Dino's ruling says
Mendonça had removed the two Federal Police commanders on Tuesday (8). The justice said he had been the target of "systematic monitoring" by the force's intelligence directorate, which produced six reports on his conduct and on his ties to Brazil's solicitor general, Jorge Messias, between Aug. 3 and 31. The disputed reports address an alleged relationship between Moraes and former banker Daniel Vorcaro, jailed in the Banco Master case, and question Mendonça's handling of the INSS and Master inquiries. On Wednesday, Dino reversed the removal. He wrote that Mendonça overstepped his powers by ruling alone, without waiting for Fachin or the full bench, and that the request, filed by the Novo party, lacked standing. "The lack of legitimacy of the Novo party to request the precautionary measure is unequivocal," Dino wrote. He also cited the risk of damage to cases under his rapporteurship, including investigations into the embezzlement of congressional budget amendments, and ordered:
"With the aim of preventing irreparable damage to cases under my rapporteurship, I grant provisional relief to order the president of the Republic, the authority competent to appoint the director-general of the Federal Police, to ensure the immediate reinstatement of Andrei Augusto Passos Rodrigues."
Because Dino's injunction is the most recent, it is the one now in force. The court's Second Panel, one of the STF's two five-justice chambers, had formed a majority on Tuesday to uphold the removal, but Justice Gilmar Mendes asked to review the case, halting the analysis in the virtual plenary. Dino noted in his ruling that Fachin has already set a deadline for the parties to weigh in on the police reports and should send the matter to the full bench.
A role for Lula?
One alternative discussed privately involves President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Supreme Court interlocutors quoted by O Globo see Lula as the only outside actor with enough political weight today to broker an accommodation between the two camps, and one of the hypotheses floated is a change at the top of the Federal Police. There is no indication that Lula has embraced the proposal or is negotiating on those terms.
The next steps sit with Fachin. The chief justice was set to meet Moraes on Wednesday under pressure to announce a measure that contains the escalation, while the deadline for responses on the intelligence reports remains open. The Second Panel's review stays frozen by Mendes's request.