Brazil Senate president rejects Bolsonaro’s petition to impeach STF Justice de Moraes

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Senate president Rodrigo Pacheco decided to reject the request for impeachment of Federal Supreme Court (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes lodged by President Jair Bolsonaro.

The decision was formalized and announced by Pacheco in a press conference shortly after the House session closed on August 25. As president of the Senate, it falls on Pacheco to decide whether to accept or reject impeachment petitions for senior federal officials, including STF Justices.

During the announcement, the Senate president said that when he received Bolsonaro’s impeachment petition, he forwarded the document for analysis by the Senate General Counsel’s Office. The technical opinion recommended dismissing the case for lack of just cause.

“The Senate General Counsel’s very well founded opinion recognizes that the facts stated in the impeachment petition do not overlap with federal Law 1079, which lists actions that can support the impeachment of an STF Justice,” Pacheco said.

The Senate president pointed out that there is no legal basis for the case to proceed. “In order for a proceeding of this nature to move forward, it must be in accordance with the provisions of the federal statute,” he said. The facts listed by Bolsonaro in his petition are not among those in the statutory list of grounds for impeachment, he said.

Pacheco pointed out that in addition to the technical and legal side of the decision, there is a political component.

“There is also an important aspect, which is the preservation of something fundamental, which is the separation of powers and the need for this independence of each power to be guaranteed and for there to be coexistence, as harmonious as possible,” he said.

The petition was presented by Bolsonaro last Friday, August 20, in the wake of an institutional crisis between the governmental branches. The president alleges that the Justice has acted as a “true censor of freedom of expression by banning the debate of ideas and respect for diversity.”

In July, Moraes ordered the Federal Police to restart the investigation into alleged interference by Bolsonaro in the force’s command. Then, in early August, he accepted the criminal notice forwarded by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) against the president for his conduct in attacking the Brazilian voting system.