Brazil's Supreme Court bets on political polarization to hide the mess

The Supreme Federal Court is betting that political passions will bury the controversy surrounding Vorcaro, argues this column. Its calculation, the text says, is that society will split between supporters of Justices Alexandre de Moraes and André Mendonça, leaving no room for the allegations to be investigated and clarified.

The crisis is described as severe because the institutional channels for dealing with it are blocked. Attorney General Paulo Gonet did not consider himself conflicted when arguing that the investigations should be annulled. He said the allegations amounted only to third-party references to him and noted that he had met Vorcaro once, at the now-famous London event where Bacalan whisky was served.

The column says Congress has offered no effective route either. Senate President David Alcolumbre has ignored opposition requests to impeach Moraes, despite acknowledging that more than 100 such requests exist and saying that this is not normal. The text describes Alcolumbre as an ally of Moraes who helped bring him closer to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

That leaves Chief Justice Edson Fachin with the option of disregarding the attorney general's position and taking the matter to the full court. Fachin's aides say Mendonça has not yet released the case for the docket. People close to Mendonça expect that to happen next week, although the column says the justice may be assessing how much support he would receive from colleagues.

With institutional routes stalled, the dispute is already affecting the election and helping opposition candidate Flávio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party. Unlike Lula, who has remained silent, Flávio has called for Moraes's impeachment. The column cautions that an opposition victory would not automatically settle the issue, saying Flávio would have to choose between confronting or joining the system and noting his own involvement in the Master case, including questions about Vorcaro's financing of a film about his father.