Justice André Mendonça of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) sought out the court's president, Edson Fachin, on Wednesday (Sept. 9) and demanded an institutional response to a ruling by fellow justice Flávio Dino that returned Andrei Rodrigues to the top job at the Federal Police. According to Folha de S.Paulo, Mendonça was caught off guard by the ruling and considers it illegal because it effectively undid the removal he had ordered on Tuesday (8). He does not plan to fight it within the case files.
People close to Mendonça told Folha that he expects Fachin to lead a way out of the standoff. In his camp's reading, Dino bypassed the procedures run by the court's president and the ruling of the Second Chamber, a five-justice panel that had upheld the removal by majority vote. Other justices are also waiting for Fachin to address the string of conflicting orders, the newspaper reported.
Dino restored Rodrigues and Federal Police intelligence director Leandro Almada after a request filed in an investigation he oversees into congressional budget earmarks tied to "Dark Horse", a biopic of former president Jair Bolsonaro. In his view, the removal was flawed from the start because it came from a petition by the Novo party, which he said has no standing to seek pretrial restraining measures in criminal cases. "The active illegitimacy of the Novo party to request the restraining measure is unequivocal", he wrote. Dino also said hiring and firing the Federal Police chief is the president's exclusive power, argued the dispute belongs to the full bench, barred new personal restraining measures against the two officers and ordered the intelligence directorate back to normal work. Noting that Mendonça is named in the police intelligence reports behind the removal, he asked whether "one party can be a judge in one's own case".
How the case got here
The standoff grew out of Federal Police intelligence reports that, according to Mendonça, showed illegal snooping against him and Attorney General of the Union Jorge Messias, later used to ground measures by justice Alexandre de Moraes. On Tuesday (8), Mendonça issued an injunction removing Rodrigues and Almada, banned new intelligence reports on judges, prosecutors and police officers, and sent his order to the Second Chamber, which upheld it by majority, as BBC News Brasil reported. Rodrigues then appealed to Dino, who reversed the picture on Wednesday. In his ruling, Dino called the suspension of intelligence work unprecedented in the force's history and mentioned reports of a meeting between Mendonça and businessman Daniel Vorcaro, jailed in the Banco Master investigation, while saying he was passing no judgment on the encounter.
Inside the court, pressure on Fachin is growing. Ministers told Folha he has shown no sense of urgency, while Fachin tells his staff he prefers caution and discretion to protect the institutions. Under pressure, he canceled Wednesday's plenary session. The court is split in two blocs: Mendonça can count on justices Luiz Fux and Kassio Nunes Marques, while Moraes, weakened by his contacts with Vorcaro, is backed by Dino, Gilmar Mendes and Cristiano Zanin. Cármen Lúcia has not taken a side, and Dias Toffoli has recused himself from Banco Master cases.
What comes next
The next move belongs to Fachin. He had already set a 72-hour deadline for Mendonça to respond on the removal before sending the matter to the full bench, and Dino wrote that his reinstatement order stands under the plenary's authority. With Wednesday's session canceled, no date is set for a collective ruling, which will land in the middle of the 2026 election campaign.