Justice Dias Toffoli recused himself from the vote, citing personal conviction, as Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) weighs opening an investigation against fellow Justice Alexandre de Moraes. In the same session on Tuesday (15), Justice Kassio Nunes Marques declared himself barred from taking part and left the bench. It is the first time in the court's history that its members meet to decide whether one of their own should be investigated, according to news portal G1. The two recusals change the quorum: nine of the court's 11 justices remain in the session, among them Moraes himself and André Mendonça, who requested the Federal Police report that triggered the case.
"Not because I feel prevented from taking part, but out of a suspicion of personal conviction, for the sake of the Court (...) I declare my recusal for this judgment, but I will not leave," Toffoli said.
The justice said he will not take part in the vote but will stay in the session and may ask to speak during the debate, according to G1. Toffoli has recused himself from Banco Master case rulings in the court's Second Chamber since stepping down as the investigations' rapporteur in February.
Nunes Marques, who heads the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), the body that runs Brazil's elections, cited the proximity of the 2026 vote. "As president of the TSE, I do not feel comfortable taking part in this judgment and I declare my impediment," he said, before asking court president Edson Fachin for permission to leave. BBC News Brasil reported that the justice said securing balanced elections matters more, at this moment, than his role in the trial.
Before stepping aside, Nunes Marques responded to messages reported by the press that link him to Daniel Vorcaro, the Master Bank owner jailed in the case. He denied ever exchanging messages with the banker. "I have never ruled on any case related to Master. My son never provided any service to the bank or was paid by the bank," he said. "If I felt uncomfortable or co-opted in any way, I would never have voted to confirm the arrest of Daniel Vorcaro, his father and others involved."
Why Toffoli stepped aside
Toffoli left the Master Bank investigations' rapporteurship in February, after Federal Police probes pointed to his own ties to the bank. In 2021, a company run by his brothers, in which he acknowledged being a partner, sold a stake in the Tayaya resort in Parana state for 3.1 million reais to a fund linked to Vorcaro's brother-in-law, G1 reported. Since then, he has stayed out of the case's rulings in the Second Chamber, including votes that confirmed the banker's arrest and that of relatives.
What the session decides and what comes next
The full court is weighing petition 16,662, opened after Mendonça made public, on September 1, messages linking Moraes to Vorcaro. The Federal Police report, with 52 messages exchanged between the two, shows the banker demanding special attention to payments under a 131-million-real contract between the bank and the law office run by Moraes's wife. Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet asked the court to void the report. Fachin took over the case's rapporteurship on Saturday, after a string of individual decisions by justices set off the crisis at the court.
The session, which began at 10 a.m., was suspended around midday and resumed at 2 p.m. Upon the return, Fachin said the bench would discuss a point of order filed by Justice Gilmar Mendes: suspend the trial, draw the rapporteurship by lot, join Moraes's case with Mendonça's and resume on September 23, with a deadline for the prosecutor general to weigh in. If the proposal fails, the justices move to the vote on the report's validity and on the annulment request.