Brazil: Presidents of Chamber and Senate expose isolated Supreme Court between government and legislature

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The presidents of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), and the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), declared that the impeachment of deputies, such as patriotic congressman Daniel Silveira, belongs exclusively to the legislature, exacerbating tensions between Congress and the Supreme Court (STF).

As a result, they have revealed increasing isolation of the left-leaning activist Court in the square of the Three Powers.

Last week, the Supreme Court sentenced Patriot deputy Daniel Silveira to an incredible eight years and nine months in a closed facility for fantasizing about “beating up” STF Justices, among other things, in a profanity-laced tirade posted on YouTube.

It also ordered Silveira to lose his mandate and suspend his political rights, preventing him from running in this year’s elections.

Each part of the decision sparked a backlash from one of the other two branches of government. Jair Bolsonaro (PL) granted Silveira a presidential pardon and lifted his prison sentence – a similar benefit was granted in Brazil in 1945, but in a different form.

Bolsonaro wrote in his presidential decree pardoning Silveira that “freedom of expression is an essential pillar of society in all its manifestations.”

The sticking point with Congress is the loss of the mandate.

Pacheco and Lira made the following comments on Tuesday (26):

• Rodrigo Pacheco – “In a situation where the judiciary issues a decree of loss of mandate, it is necessary to submit to the Legislative Chamber […]. The legislative chamber itself can only withdraw the mandate granted by a popular vote through a vote of its colleagues.”
• Arthur Lira – “According to the understanding of the House advisors, the STF has the competence to judge, the President of the Republic has the constitutional competence to pronounce the pardon, and the National Congress, not only the House but also the Senate, is the one to decide on the parliamentary mandate.”

The presidents of the House and Senate do not speak on their own behalf. Discomfort with judicial decisions of this nature is widespread among Members of Parliament.

The remarks by Lira and Pacheco please several of their colleagues, who fear similar penalties and view such action as improper interference by the judiciary in the legislative branch.

In February 2021, after Silveira’s arrest, a vote was taken in the plenum on his detention.

There was great dissatisfaction with him in the Chamber. It was assumed that Silveira had caused unnecessary trouble for Parliament with his remarks against the Justices of the Supreme Court.

Nevertheless, 130 deputies voted against the prison – 364 were in favor.

Preparations for the session showed that court decisions against members of Congress are a sensitive issue in the legislature. Lira met at the time with the leaders of the benches and the leadership of the parliament to discuss the situation.

He also warned President Bolsonaro, of whom Silveira is a supporter, that the plenum would likely uphold the arrest.

Shortly after that, Lira introduced a proposal in the plenum to amend the constitution to prevent deputies from being arrested as Silveira was.

The process was slower than planned, and the project came under public criticism and was eventually removed from the agenda.

NO ROLE MODEL, QUITE THE OPPOSITE

On the outskirts of the Square of the Three Powers, where the Planalto Palace is located, the climate for the Supreme Court is even worse. Since taking office, President Jair Bolsonaro has criticized the Court or its members several times.

The lifting of Daniel Silveira’s prison sentence was another step. Bolsonaro reacted immediately: The day after the conviction, he released the presidential pardon and did not even wait for the Supreme Court to publish the verdict.

Bolsonaro’s main opponents in the STF are:

• Alexandre de Moraes – author of the arrest warrant against Silveira and responsible for other cases that anger Planalto;
• Luís Roberto Barroso, who presided over the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) and defended the electronic ballot boxes when Bolsonaro spoke of electoral fraud without evidence.

Barroso even starred in another episode of friction between the government and the STF in recent days by picking a fight with the Military. He said Sunday (24) that the Armed Forces, from which several members of Bolsonaro’s government hail, are being directed to attack the electoral process.

The defense minister, General Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, then released a harsh statement. He called the statement irresponsible and a serious offense.

There is nothing to suggest that the STF’s tensions with the other two Powers and now the Armed Forces will diminish in the near future. On the contrary, the Daniel Silveira case has everything to fuel this fire.

The way the congressman handled the trial and conviction by the STF mobilized Bolsonarism. Keeping all this in the spotlight is interesting from an electoral point of view.

Drawing the displeasure of Congress could make the Supreme Court more vulnerable. It also limits the Court’s powers vis-à-vis the legislature itself. It remains to be seen how the justices will proceed from now on.

With information from Poder360