The president of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF), Edson Fachin, is under pressure to hold a closed session on Tuesday (15), when the full bench examines for the first time a request to open an investigation into Justice Alexandre de Moraes, whose sessions are normally broadcast live on television. According to CNN Brasil, the goal of the group pushing to shut the doors is to keep disagreements among the justices, above all between Moraes and André Mendonça, the rapporteur on the Banco Master inquiries and, in the words of Folha de S.Paulo, Moraes's main antagonist on the court, out of public view.

Allies of Moraes argue, according to the channel, that a live broadcast could increase public pressure for votes in favor of the investigation, and they single out Justices Kassio Nunes Marques and Cármen Lúcia as more sensitive to public opinion. Fachin has not decided yet. He has signaled that closing the session could create the impression that the court resists transparency amid the crisis dividing it.

Moraes's defense is still taking shape. Folha reported that he had prepared a statement for Thursday (10), announced by the court's press office at 7:40 a.m. and canceled at 8:45 a.m., after allied justices advised him to wait and let attention focus on the Federal Police operation over the film "Dark Horse", authorized by Justice Flávio Dino. One target was congressman Mario Frias (PL-SP), who is under investigation, denies wrongdoing and called the operation a "smokescreen". According to CNN Brasil, the statement is now planned for Monday (14), the eve of the session, when Moraes is expected to reaffirm that he never had personal involvement with banker Daniel Vorcaro, the owner of Banco Master. Moraes denies the suspicions. A justice close to him told Folha that anything left unexplained could haunt him until Tuesday.

How the case reached the plenary

A short timeline of the crisis, based on reporting by BBC News Brasil:

• May: the website The Intercept Brasil revealed that presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro had allegedly asked Vorcaro for US$ 24 million (about R$ 134 million) to finance a film about Jair Bolsonaro.
• September 1: Mendonça lifted the secrecy on the Federal Police report on the Master case, which set off the open crisis inside the court.
• September 3: Moraes asked for Mendonça to be included in the Fake News inquiry over an alleged "abuse of authority" in releasing the report.
• September 8: Mendonça tried to remove the Federal Police director-general and block intelligence reports on judges; the police itself accused him of interfering with evidence gathering.
• September 9: Fachin removed Moraes as rapporteur of the Fake News inquiry and canceled the plenary session.
• September 10: another session was canceled, and the Federal Police carried out the "Dark Horse" search warrants.

According to BBC News Brasil, the Federal Police report recorded messages attributed to Moraes and Vorcaro in which the banker asked for advice, including on when to leave Brazil, and the exchanges became more frequent shortly before Vorcaro was arrested while trying to flee the country. The inquiry also references a multimillion-real contract between the bank and the law office of Viviane Barci de Moraes, the justice's wife. Moraes denies any irregularity.

Scenarios for Tuesday

The vote count for Tuesday is seen as inconclusive, according to CNN Brasil. The expectation inside the court is that Justice Dias Toffoli will declare himself barred from the case, since he has also been cited over suspected ties to Vorcaro. Another possibility raised within the STF is a "vista", a procedural request that lets a justice take a case for further study and push the ruling past this year's elections, as Gilmar Mendes did when the court weighed the removal of Federal Police director-general Andrei Rodrigues.

Fachin canceled both the Wednesday (9) and Thursday (10) sessions because, according to aides quoted by Folha, he judged there was a real risk they would be used to anticipate the debate planned for Tuesday. In the courtroom, Moraes and Mendonça sit side by side. The next step on the calendar is the statement expected on Monday (14), followed by Tuesday's session (15), open or closed, a decision that rests with the court's president.