Fachin weighs taking Master and INSS cases from Mendonça to contain Supreme Court crisis

Brazil’s Supreme Court president, Edson Fachin, is considering removing two high-profile investigations from Justice André Mendonça and taking them over himself in an effort to contain the crisis inside the court.

The cases involve Master and the National Institute of Social Security, known as INSS. Fachin met with close advisers on Sunday to discuss the dispute between Mendonça and Justice Alexandre de Moraes and to plan how he should lead the court through what the article describes as an unprecedented moment.

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There will be no haste, but also no omission.

The discussion began before Mendonça ordered the removal of Andrei Rodrigues as head of the Federal Police. The order went before the court’s Second Panel and initially secured a majority, but Justice Gilmar Mendes suspended the ruling after requesting more time to examine the matter.

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The institutional response will be firm, proportionate and rigorous.

The Supreme Court has faced its most public conflict between members since the start of the previous week. Fachin had already removed from the fake-news inquiry a request by Moraes to investigate Mendonça for abuse of authority, administrative misconduct and a crime of responsibility. Taking the cases from Mendonça would also serve, as Folha reported, as an option favored by the faction that supports Moraes. That group argues that the rapporteur should be temporarily removed while questions remain about his methods.

People close to Fachin, however, say he believes he must calm both sides of the dispute and reduce the groups’ ability to attack one another. At the Planalto Palace, Fachin said there would be “no haste, but also no omission” in addressing the conflict. He called for a “firm, proportionate and rigorous” institutional response, an ethics code, the end of the fake-news inquiry and modernization of the justice system. Fachin also indicated that he wanted to examine the accusations between the justices and bring the cases before the full court, while expressing dissatisfaction with the methods used by both colleagues.

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The recent events demonstrate the correctness and urgency of three goals of our administration: adopting an ethics code, ending the fake-news inquiry and modernizing the justice system.