Impeachment of Dias Tofolli, Gilmar Mendes and Alexandre de Moraes may go forward in the Senate

By Richard Mann, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The presidency of the Federal Senate is expected to receive this week the impeachment request of Dias Tofolli, president of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), and minister Alexandre de Moraes.

After gathering support, the request was extended to another minister of the supreme court: Gilmar Mendes. The author of the petition, Senator Alessandro Vieira (Cidadania-ES), should file the document with the General Secretariat within the next few days.

Several senators expressed their support and among those are Senators Luis Carlos Heinze (PP-RS), Marcos Do Val (Cidadania-ES), Fabiano Contarato (Rede-ES), Jorge Kajuru (PSB-GO) and Styvenson Valentim (Podemos-RN).

Some of the senators emphasized the need to carry out a “sweep” on the behavior of members of the judiciary by filing the opening of a Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPI) on the work of the judiciary, popularly known as the Lava-Toga CPI.

Federal Senate President Davi Alcolumbre (DEM-AP) tried to find a solution for the CPI to ease the tension between the two powers.

However, after the STF halted the publication of Crusoé Magazine last week, featuring a report on the participation of the STF president in Lava-Jato, the request of an impediment for members of the supreme court was reinforced.

For the impeachment document to be filed at the General Secretariat, it is mandatory that the senators’ signatures be authenticated and notarized. At this time there is no estimate as to when this procedure will be completed.

Commenting on the impeachment request, the senator stressed that parliamentarians no longer accept the infractions committed by public officials, especially those who call themselves guardians of the Federal Constitution.

“Several senators no longer accept the abuse of power, the growing practice of Responsibility Crimes by Supreme Court Justice Ministers. The path provided in our legislation is to seek impeachment from the Senate of the Republic,” defended Alessandro Vieira.