Brazil’s Bolsonaro to nominate another evangelical to Supreme Court, if Senate rejects Mendonça

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL -President Jair Bolsonaro said last night (September 27) he would nominate an evangelical to the Federal Supreme Court (STF), should the Senate reject André Mendonça’s name for the Court.

Former Federal Solicitor General, Mendonça was chosen in July by the President to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court. However, the Chairman of the Senate’s Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ), Davi Alcolumbre, has not yet set a date for review of the appointment.

“If André is not chosen, according to my commitment to the evangelicals, it will be another evangelical. I think things will be fine with André,” Bolsonaro said.

The statement omits any potential “plan B” for the STF, namely Prosecutor General Augusto Aras, a Catholic.

Bolsonaro refrained from commenting on Alcolumbre’s resistance to schedule Mendonça’s examination. “I don’t want to get into rumors. Everyone wants power,” the President stated.

Senator Alcolumbre is expected to schedule the committee hearings for the first half of October. Recently, senators Alessandro Vieira and Jorge Kajuru filed a petition at the STF to force Alcolumbre to schedule the examination.

With the retirement of Justice Marco Aurélio Mello on July 12, the STF now has only 10 Justices. According to some senators, the imbalance in the Court’s composition results in serious damage to public interest as it disrupts the Supreme Court’s work. As the case has not yet been distributed to the CCJ, no rapporteur has been appointed.

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