President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is expected to try to calm the dispute between Brazil's Supreme Court (STF) and the Federal Police (PF) and push for institutional solutions to what he calls a "crisis of institutionality". That is the assessment of Painel, the political column of the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, published on Tuesday (8), after the president met with allies and cabinet ministers. According to the paper, the government should also avoid attacks on Justice André Mendonça of the STF.
How the crisis started
The standoff began with a ruling in which Mendonça, acting alone, preventively removed Federal Police director-general Andrei Rodrigues and intelligence director Leandro Almada da Costa. According to G1, the justice said he and the head of the federal government's legal office, the Advocacia-Geral da União, Jorge Messias, had been illegally monitored through unattributed intelligence reports. Folha reports that Mendonça described the police material as "surreal" and "unimaginable" and said he and Messias were watched for at least 30 days this year.
The trigger was an internal Federal Police report used by Justice Alexandre de Moraes to request an investigation of Mendonça, who as case rapporteur oversees the Banco Master and INSS pension fund matters. According to Folha, the document suggested crimes of abuse of authority and administrative improbity in his handling of those cases, and accused Mendonça of steering investigations against Moraes and Senate President Davi Alcolumbre "in breach of judicial impartiality".
The government's response
On Tuesday, the AGU appealed to STF President Justice Edson Fachin and asked, on an urgent basis, for an injunction to immediately suspend the removals. The filing, signed by Messias and the AGU leadership, argues there is "serious harm to public and administrative order" and a "risk of institutional disorganization".
The preventive removal flagrantly violates the constitutional prerogative vested exclusively in the President of the Republic to appoint and dismiss Federal Police leadership positions.
In the court's Second Chamber, an extraordinary virtual session called to ratify the removals formed a 3-0 majority, with votes from Mendonça, Luiz Fux and Nunes Marques. A review request from Justice Gilmar Mendes suspended the session. Until the panel resumes its deliberations, Mendonça's individual ruling stands, and William Marcel Murad runs the Federal Police. The force's directors published a note of "total support" for Rodrigues and put their posts at the substitute's disposal.
Three decisions are now pending. Fachin is weighing the AGU's injunction request. The Second Chamber must resume the judgment interrupted by Gilmar Mendes. And the National Association of Federal Criminal Experts wants the case taken to the full court, which currently has 10 justices.