President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Tuesday (Sept. 15) that members of Brazil's judiciary should not have relatives practicing law at the Supreme Court itself. In an interview with Jornal da Record, a nightly news program on Record TV, he called for "moralization criteria" for the judiciary and said the Supreme Federal Court (STF), the country's top court, must be "the magnanimous example" of Brazil.
"Things have to be clear. Whoever is a justice [of the STF] or works in the judiciary cannot want to get rich. Cannot want to get rich. People cannot be in the judiciary with a son practicing law, a wife practicing law, the father practicing law, in the Supreme Court itself. (...) The Supreme Court has to be the magnanimous example of this country. At the Supreme Court, no one can be under suspicion. It is important to investigate, and whoever made a mistake must pay the price the Brazilian people demand", Lula said, according to Poder360.
Remarks in the middle of an STF crisis
The statement came on the same day the STF examined the cases involving Justices Alexandre de Moraes and André Mendonça. The session was suspended after Justice Flávio Dino asked for more time to review the case, with the tally at 4 to 3 for handling the two cases separately. The court's crisis deepened after the release of messages exchanged between Moraes and banker Daniel Vorcaro, who is jailed on suspicion of billion-dollar fraud. According to InfoMoney, the investigation also found that Moraes edited a contract between the law office of his wife, Viviane Barci de Moraes, and Banco Master.
In the same interview, Lula, who is running for reelection, backed "a profound reform" of the judiciary. "I think we need a profound reform of the judiciary, in which we discuss the length of terms, the criteria for choosing candidates and how the person can be chosen", he said. The president has not detailed what a reform in a fourth term would include. Points mentioned so far, according to InfoMoney, include limits on monocratic rulings, in which a single justice decides, and more seats for civil society on the CNJ and CNMP, the councils that oversee judges and prosecutors.
Lula denies responsibility for the appointments
On Wednesday (Sept. 16), on the podcast Desce a Letra Show, Lula said he cannot be blamed for the appointments of Moraes, Kássio Nunes Marques and Mendonça to the court, because he was not president when they were made. G1 reported that Moraes was nominated by then president Michel Temer in February 2017. "Everyone who made a mistake has to be tried. I support a fair trial, the right to a defense, but if you committed a crime, you have to pay. That applies to me, to Fachin, to Moraes", Lula said.
The next move belongs to the STF itself. Dino has up to 90 days to release the case for a plenary vote, and the exact date will be set by Justice Edson Fachin, the BBC reported. It is still not clear whether the court will rule, on Sept. 23, on the accusations Moraes filed against Mendonça over his handling of the Banco Master and INSS investigations. The first round of Brazil's presidential election is scheduled for Oct. 4.