RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Jair Bolsonaro spent two weeks shooting lies and insults at people and institutions, ignoring decorum and politeness — to the delight of the medieval portion of his supporters and the desperation and embarrassment of the rest of Brazil.
Hence, when Federal Supreme Court’s justice Celso de Mello sharply criticized (another) unconstitutional action by the government, he claimed to feel “aggrieved” and complained that the justice got “too personal”.
To recap: the STF decided to uphold the demarcation of indigenous lands as a function of FUNAI, in the Ministry of Justice, and not under the Ministry of Agriculture, as Bolsonaro had hoped.
This change had been included in the government’s administrative reorganization, but Congress had rejected it. The president then edited a second amendment, with the same content, which was denied by the Supreme Court — since a new edition in the same year is not allowed.
Upon examining the case, dean Celso de Mello said: “The behavior of the current president as shown in the latest submission of a provisional measure during the same legislative session, and rejected by Congress, is a blatant and unacceptable violation of the Federal Constitution’s paramount authority and represents an unacceptable and dangerous transgression to the foundational principle of the segregation of powers.”
“There still seems to exist a remnant of undisguised authoritarianism within the confines of today’s power.”
Then, in an interview with Rafael Moura, from the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo, Celso de Mello said that Bolsonaro “dangerously underestimates the significance of the Constitution and downgrades the authority of Brazilian Congress.”
After this decision, Bolsonaro publicly said that this had happened due to a mistake by his team and that he took full responsibility.
On Sunday, August 4th, he said: “The Supreme Court justice reprimanded me. The way it is, it pains my heart.” This is not all: “I thought he was too personal. Am I upset? I am because he was very personal.”
(Source: Blog do Sakamoto, UOL)