STF Crisis Sets Off Red Alert for Lula Campaign as Planalto Seeks Fachin Intervention

An unprecedented crisis inside Brazil's Supreme Federal Court has set off a red alert at the Planalto Palace and in President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's reelection campaign. The government's assessment is that Justices Alexandre de Moraes and André Mendonça have entered a fight for survival that only Court President Edson Fachin can resolve.

Lula's government views positively the possibility that Fachin could take over investigations into alleged wrongdoing at Banco Master and suspected diversions of pension payments from the National Social Security Institute, both currently under Mendonça's responsibility. That solution could also give Fachin the power to close the fake-news inquiry opened by Moraes in 2019, during Jair Bolsonaro's government. The court has no agreement on the proposal.

Fachin spoke with Lula about the crisis on Sept. 7 and said he was working seven days a week, consulting his fellow justices in search of an understanding that would protect the STF's image. It was not yet known that Mendonça would order the removal of Federal Police Director-General Andrei Rodrigues and the agency's intelligence director, Leandro Almada da Costa.

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life or death

Mendonça said the Federal Police had produced a clandestine intelligence report that spied on specific targets, including him, in order to distort facts about ongoing investigations. The justice had already been complaining about Rodrigues and had told a small circle of interlocutors that he could take a more drastic measure against the police chief.

Lula called two emergency meetings with ministers on Tuesday, Oct. 8, and also met campaign coordinators to define new strategies. On the president's instructions, Attorney General Jorge Messias appealed Mendonça's decision to Fachin, arguing that it violated the president's exclusive authority to appoint the Federal Police director. The STF's Second Panel had a majority to uphold the removal, but Justice Gilmar Mendes requested more time to examine the matter. Fachin later gave Mendonça 72 hours to respond. One PT faction wants Lula to make a tougher public statement than his previous week's call for political and judicial reform and investigations without protection for anyone.

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without protection for anyone, no matter who it hurts