The British magazine The Economist said on Thursday that Brazil's Supreme Federal Court, the STF, has gone from defending Brazilian democracy to threatening it. The article, titled "When democracy's defenders turn their backs", ties the shift to the Banco Master scandal and the clash between Justices Alexandre de Moraes and André Mendonça. It was published 24 days before Brazil's October 4 general election.
"Facing constant threats, including from Donald Trump, the justices pressed ahead serenely with the prosecution of the former populist president, sentencing him to 27 years in prison in September 2025. Most Brazilians celebrated that the country's young democracy had been saved. Now, with the general election approaching on October 4, democracy's defenders have become a threat to it," the magazine writes, as reported by Folha de S.Paulo.
Moraes at the center
The main target is Alexandre de Moraes, the justice who presided over the trial that convicted Jair Bolsonaro of plotting a coup. "The Supreme Court sits at the center of a sordid and ever-expanding corruption scandal. At its epicenter is the justice who oversaw the case against Bolsonaro," the text says, crediting him with "questionable decisions" in that trial. The magazine also faults his running of the so-called Fake News inquiry, a disinformation probe he led until court president Edson Fachin removed him as rapporteur on Wednesday.
According to BBC News Brasil, the inquiry's secrecy and long duration make it impossible to know how many social media accounts Moraes had "censored". Folha reports that, in the magazine's reading, he combined "the roles of victim, prosecutor and judge" and used the probe to shield himself. On the Master case, the article cites the contract between the bank and the law office of Viviane Barci de Moraes, the justice's wife, and a Federal Police report that, per G1, listed 52 messages from banker Daniel Vorcaro to Moraes. In those exchanges, Vorcaro allegedly sought advice on when to leave Brazil to escape prison, and the messages grew more frequent shortly before his arrest as he tried to flee the country. "Moraes denies any wrongdoing," the magazine writes.
Mendonça is a target too
The court's crisis began on September 1, when Mendonça lifted the seal on the Federal Police report. Two days later, Moraes asked for his colleague to be included in the Fake News inquiry for "abuse of authority". The Economist concedes that Moraes "has a point": Mendonça has not released evidence against other judges who also had dealings with Vorcaro. The criticism of Mendonça runs long. The Federal Police accused him of interfering with evidence collection, he tried to remove the force's chief on September 8, and in 2020, as Bolsonaro's justice minister, he oversaw a dossier on hundreds of police officers and academics the then president saw as enemies.
In the magazine's assessment, the court's "dysfunction", Mendonça's "procedural missteps" and Moraes's "blatant attempts to protect himself" endanger the Master investigation itself. Procedural errors could give legal cover to close the case, which would benefit Moraes and dozens of politicians, including presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, CNN Brasil reports, relaying the publication's conclusion that "the biggest loser would be democracy". BBC adds that Congress could push ahead with impeaching STF justices and pardoning the crimes Bolsonaro was convicted of.
"Brazilians are tired of the corruption scandals that sully the political class every few years. The misuse of their institutions could undermine confidence in democracy more than Bolsonaro ever did."
The article lands in a decisive week for the court. On Tuesday the 15th, the STF's full bench is set to debate whether to open an investigation into Moraes based on the Federal Police report, G1 reports. Fachin has canceled the plenary sessions of Wednesday and Thursday and spent the day in private consultations with the justices. Moraes, the prosecutor general, Federal Police chief Andrei Rodrigues and Mendonça have until the session to submit information. G1 reports that Moraes is expected to speak publicly on Monday the 14th, the eve of the decision.