Brazil: Lula confirms the nomination of his lawyer Cristiano Zanin to the Supreme Court

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), 77, said on Thursday (1) that he would appoint his lawyer Cristiano Zanin Martins, 47, to the post of minister of the STF (Federal Supreme Court), in place of Ricardo Lewandowski, who retired on April 11.

“I think everybody expected me to appoint Zanin not only because of the role he played in my defense but because I think he will become one of the great Justices of the Supreme Court,” the President told reporters after a bilateral meeting with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö.

A native of Piracicaba, in the interior of São Paulo, Zanin will be able to stay on the Court until November 15, 2050, when he will turn 75 and will have to retire compulsorily.

He can serve on the Court for the next 27 years.

A law graduate from PUC-SP (Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo) in 1999, the lawyer specializes in corporate and criminal litigation (legal disputes settled after the defendant contests what was presented in the lawsuit).

Zanin was also a civil and procedural law professor at Fadisp (Faculdade Autônoma de Direito).

He is a member of IAB (Institute of Brazilian Lawyers), AASP (São Paulo Lawyers Association), and IBA (International Bar Association).

He is a full member of Iasp (São Paulo Lawyers Institute) and a founding member of Ibdee (Brazilian Institute of Business Law and Ethics).

He is also a co-founder of the Lawfare Institute.

As Poder360 found out, the President of the Senate CCJ, Davi Alcolumbre (União-AP), should facilitate Cristiano Zanin’s approval of the STF, which may be granted in June.

At 5 pm, Alcolumbre will meet him at the Planalto Palace.

During the meeting, Alcolumbre should assure Lula that Zanin’s appointment and approval will not be hindered.

The senator will use this opportunity to publicly signal that he is one of the government’s main allies in Congress.

Known for being Lula’s front-line lawyer in Lava Jato cases, Zanin and his wife, Valeska Teixeira Zanin Martins, have defended Lula since 2013.

In 2018, Lula was arrested due to the proceedings conducted by then Federal Judge Sergio Moro, in Curitiba (PR), responsible for Lava Jato cases in the 13th Federal Court of Curitiba.

He was sentenced to 12 years and one month in prison for money laundering and corruption in the case of the Guarujá tríplex.

Lula was jailed for 580 days.

He was released on November 8, 2019, after the STF recognized the right to appeal convictions in freedom until all possibilities of appeal have been exhausted.

FROM PRISON TO THE PLANALTO PALACE: LULA HAD BEEN IN PRISON FOR EXACTLY 5 YEARS

In 2020, Zanin filed a habeas corpus petition with the STF that led to the annulment of the convictions against the President.

During the trial, most Justices agreed with the defense arguments that Moro should not have analyzed the charges.

The Court determined that the cases should be transferred to the Federal Court in Brasília.

Zanin’s profile will always be inextricably linked to the annulment of the proceedings against Lula.

This was the only way for Lula to recover his political rights and to be able to participate in the last presidential election, in which he became President of the Republic for the third time.

The lawyer’s appointment was already expected.

On March 2, President Lula stated that “everyone would understand that he deserved to be nominated”.

“Technically, he has grown extraordinarily,” the President declared.

“He is my friend; he is my companion. Like others are my companions. But I never nominated on that account.”

Now, Zanin must leave Lula’s defense and move on to articulate his approval.

Before taking office at the STF, the lawyer must go through a trial by the Senate’s CCJ (Constitution and Justice Commission).

The now Senator Sergio Moro (União Brasil-PR) will be among the examiners.

If approved by the CCJ, Zanin’s nomination will go to the plenary of the upper house, where he will need the support of at least 41 senators.

In history, the senators have only rejected five nominees to the STF, all in 1894, during the government of then-president Floriano Peixoto (1891-1894).

Concerning Lula’s three administrations, Cristiano Zanin will be his 9th nominee to the STF.

Until the end of his term, the President will have at least one more nomination when Justice Rosa Weber, the current President of the Court, retires.

She will turn 75 on October 2 this year and must leave the Court.

THE CHOICE OF ZANIN

Although Zanin was chosen, Lula also considered the name of lawyer Manoel Carlos de Almeida Neto, 43.

He was an advisor in Lewandowski’s office from 2006 to 2016 and had the former minister’s approval to succeed him.

He is currently the legal director of CSN (Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional).

Zanin’s nomination, however, considers the current political climate: the regarded good relationship between the Lula government and the Senate.

If today’s scenario – still favorable to the Planalto – could be replicated in October, Lula could appoint Manoel Carlos now and leave Zanin for next semester when Justice Rosa Weber turns 75 and will have to leave the Court.

But there are no guarantees about the government’s relationship with the Upper House until then.

In addition, one of the main factors for the nomination is the intimacy and trust established between Lula and Zanin.

Even knowing Manoel Carlos’ work, nothing beats the close relationship between Lula and his lawyer during the 580 days Lula was imprisoned.

For this reason, securing the lawyer’s nomination now is fundamental for the Chief Executive.

During the process of choosing the President, there was strong pressure from the PT, leftist parties, and identity movements for the vacancy to be filled preferably by a black woman.

The only black Justice to make up the Court in its 214 years of existence was Joaquim Barbosa, who retired in 2014.

In March, Justice Edson Fachin made the suggestion publicly during a session in the physical plenary of the Court.

With Justice Rosa Weber’s term ending on October 2, the only woman among the 11 Supreme Court seats will be Cármen Lúcia.

According to the maximum retirement limit of 75 years old, the Justice can occupy the position until April 2029.

Despite this, Lula has backed away from his commitment to appoint a woman to the Supreme Court in recent months.

In April, the President advocated that the nominee should be a “socially sensitive figure” and “highly qualified from the legal point of view”.

On March 2, the President had to defend the name of his lawyer publicly.

He said that “everyone would understand” the nomination and that Zanin is his “companion” but denied that this would be considered in the decision.

Despite the indications given by the petitioner since the beginning of the year, the nomination came to be made de facto now, 51 days after the retirement of Ricardo Lewandowski.

The Justice left the Court a month in advance for “academic and professional” reasons.

In the last month, changes at the STF showed that the Court was preparing for the nomination of Lula’s lawyer.

The first move was made by Justice Dias Toffoli, who, on May 2, asked President Rosa Weber to reappoint him to the position vacated by Lewandowski on the 2nd Panel – the Panel responsible for judging Lava Jato cases.

This is because Zanin’s move to Lewandowski’s seat and, consequently, the inheritance of the Lava Jato cases could indicate impartiality in the judgments of Lula’s lawyer.

The maneuver was seen as a way to cease the concern of the opposing political class with the possible involvement of Zanin in the trials.

After that, Justice Edson Fachin sent, on May 10, the presidency of the lawsuit filed by Lula over the exchange of messages between members of the Lava Jato operation to Justice Dias Toffoli.

If approved by the Senate to occupy the Court, Zanin should go to the 1st Panel and not to the collegiate responsible for Lava Jato’s actions.

ADVOCACY

Zanin’s office specializes in “bet-the-company” litigation and accusations involving “lawfare” (the strategic use of laws for political ends).

Recently, the lawyer started to defend the Americanas group, specifically in a lawsuit filed by the bank BTG Pactual with the STJ.

The company has been under judicial reorganization since January 19.

In August 2022, Zanin faced criticism after he broke his 18-year partnership with his father-in-law, lawyer Roberto Teixeira.

Teixeira is close to Lula and acted in the PT’s defense during the Lava Jato investigation.

LULA’S NOMINATIONS TO THE SUPREME COURT

Lula has nominated 9 Justices to the Supreme Court, 8 of them in his first two terms: Eros Grau, who was on the Court from 2004 to 2010; Cezar Peluso, Ayres Britto, Joaquim Barbosa, Menezes Direito (1942-2009), Ricardo Lewandowski, Cármen Lúcia and Dias Toffoli.

His nominations, however, did not spare him during the trials of the Lava Jato and Mensalão cases, which involved the current President and his allies.

Cármen Lúcia, appointed by Lula in 2006, presided over the STF from 2016 to 2018 and was responsible for the homologation of the Odebrecht delation, which mentioned the name of the current head of the Executive and former President Dilma Rousseff (PT).

The minister also voted against the habeas corpus petition filed by Lula in 2018, when he was in prison for corruption and money laundering in the case of the Guarujá tríplex.

Ricardo Lewandowski and Dias Toffoli were the only Lula appointees who accepted the appeal.

At the time, Lula consulted his allies to define the nominations, especially Márcio Thomaz Bastos (1935-2014), who was his Minister of Justice.

As he mentioned in March, the President’s choice was solitary.

The President said, however, that all his nominees were not allies and would make the nominations again if he had the same information he had at the time.

With information from UOL

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