Brazil's national bar association, the OAB, decided on Wednesday (9) not to file an impeachment request with the Senate against justices of the Supreme Federal Tribunal, the country's top court. The decision came out of an extraordinary closed-door meeting in Brasilia with representatives of the order's 27 state chapters. Instead of the request, the organization will create a commission to examine the justices' conduct in the Banco Master case.

According to the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, the order discarded a proposal approved a day earlier by councilors of its Brasilia chapter, who had called for impeachment proceedings against Justices Alexandre de Moraes and Dias Toffoli over "indications of the crime of responsibility". The newspaper reported that both justices had ties to the bank of former banker Daniel Vorcaro.

Commission will seek access to the case files

CNN Brasil reported that the panel was created on Wednesday night by the OAB's national president, Beto Simonetti. Made up of members of the national leadership and state chapter presidents, the commission will ask Supreme Court President Edson Fachin for access to the case files of the investigations into the relationship between Moraes and Vorcaro. The result will be a legal opinion on the justices' conduct, to be voted on by the OAB's Federal Council.

"Just as the Supreme Court, its justices, the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Federal Police are capable, through their agents, of conducting this entire investigation, we also have the intellectual capacity, through our federal councilors, chapter presidents and jurists who have already volunteered to join this commission, to carry out a deep analysis of all this documentation," Simonetti told CNN.

The meeting also approved other requests filed with the Supreme Court. The OAB asked that Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet not act personally in the case discussing Federal Police reports containing records of interactions between Moraes and Vorcaro. According to the organization, the measure is "strictly procedural and preventive" and does not represent a conclusion about Gonet's conduct. The order also requested access to evidence and documents from the crisis, including sealed materials within limits set by the court, and the opening of investigations into possible crimes, including those that may involve members of the court.

The commission's opinion still needs a vote by the Federal Council, and CNN reported that an impeachment request against Moraes remains among the options to be weighed. The decision came amid pressure from state chapters, a movement led by the Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Parana offices. At the Supreme Court, the full bench is scheduled to meet on September 15 to address the crisis, including a possible investigation of Moraes.