Brazil’s Supreme Court Chief Justice’s full statement on Bolsonaro’s speech

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The statement came in the wake of the Sept. 7 protests, in which President Jair Bolsonaro espoused a brash agenda and sharply criticized the Supreme Court.

Speaking emphatically, Fux said that “no one will shut down the Court” and that this kind of discourse is typical of those who spread the “politics of chaos.”

The Justice also said that insulting the honor of Supreme Court Justices, instigating hate speech, and encouraging non-compliance with court rulings – as Bolsonaro did on the holiday – “are anti-democratic and illegal practices” which cannot be tolerated by the Constitution.

Fux’s full statement below:

“Justices and Brazilian citizens,

Yesterday, Brazil celebrated 199 years of its independence. In all capitals and in many cities throughout the country, citizens took to the streets. The country attentively watched the demonstrations unfold and, for our peace of mind, there were no major incidents reported.

In fact, participants exercised their freedom of assembly and expression – fundamental rights that are widely protected by the Federal Supreme Court.

At this point, it is imperative to praise the performance of the country’s security forces, particularly the State and Federal Police, whose members spared no effort to preserve order and the integrity of public property, with full regard for the dignity of protesters.

It is important to stress the commitment of the Armed Forces, state governors and other security and public intelligence agents, who monitored all demonstrations in real time, thereby enabling them to unfold in an orderly and peaceful manner.

From north to south of Brazil, we could see that the police and other agents worked well aware that democracy is important not only for themselves, but also for their children, who will grow up under the institutional normality that their parents contributed to preserve.

This Federal Supreme Court was also watching the form and content of yesterday’s events. Posters and slogans conveyed harsh criticism of the Court and its members, many of which were also voiced by the President of the Republic in his speeches in Brasília and São Paulo.

As the head of the Judiciary and president of the Supreme Court, a word of patriotism and respect for the country’s institutions is warranted.

We, magistrates and Justices of the Federal Supreme Court know that no nation builds its identity without dissent.

The coexistence of different perspectives on the same world is a prerequisite for democracy, which cannot survive without debates on the performance of its governments and institutions.

In this context, throughout its trajectory in these 130 years of republican life, the Federal Supreme Court has never refused – and will never refuse – institutional improvement for the benefit of our beloved country.

However, institutional criticism should not be confused with, and is not appropriate for, narratives aimed at discrediting the Federal Supreme Court and its members, as the Head of the Nation has been gravely disseminating.

To insult the honor of Justices, to incite the population to spread hate speech against the institution of the Supreme Court and to encourage non- compliance with court rulings are undemocratic and illegal practices, unacceptable with respect to the constitutional oath we swore when we took a seat on this Court.

Unfortunately, it has become increasingly common for some organizations to use democracy as a pretext to promote anti-democratic ideals.

Let us beware of these false prophets of patriotism, who ignore that true democracies do not allow placing the people against the people, or the people against their institutions.

We all know that those who encourage the discourse of “us against them” do not promote democracy, but rather the politics of chaos.

In truth, democracy is the discourse of “one for all and all for one,” while respecting our differences and complexities.

Brazilians, do not succumb to the temptation of easy messianic narratives that create false enemies of the nation.

More than ever, our times call for respect for the constituted powers. A true patriot does not turn a blind eye to the real and pressing problems of the country. On the contrary, he or she seeks to face them, like a tireless craftsman, weaving minimal consensus among groups that naturally think differently. This is the only way to pacify and reinvigorate an entire nation.

With this democratic spirit and institutional strength, this Supreme Court will never tolerate threats to its independence or intimidation of the regular exercise of its functions.

The Supreme Court Justices – and all of the country’s more than 20,000 magistrates – are committed to their independence, guaranteed in the sacred document that is our Constitution, which enshrines the aspirations of the Brazilian people and does justice to the struggles for rights undertaken by the generations that preceded us.

Neither will the Federal Supreme Court tolerate threats to the authority of its decisions. If contempt for judicial decisions occurs at the initiative of the head of any branch of government, this behavior, in addition to being an attack on democracy, represents an impeachable offense, to be analyzed by the National Congress.

In a mature political environment, challenges to judicial decisions should be handled not through disobedience, not through disorder, not through provoked chaos, but rather through the resources offered by legal procedures.

No one, no one will shut down this Court.

We will keep it standing, with sweat, perseverance and courage. In the exercise of its role, the Federal Supreme Court will not tire of preaching loyalty to the Constitution and, in so doing, this Court will reaffirm, throughout its perennial existence, its essential commitment to the democratic regime, to human rights, and to respect for this country’s powers and institutions.

On behalf of the Justices of this Court, I call upon the leaders of our country to address the real problems that plague our people: the pandemic, which is not over yet and has already taken to the grave over 580,000 Brazilian lives, and brought pain to relatives who lost loved ones; we must worry about unemployment, driving citizens to the limits of biological survival; worry about inflation, which erodes the income of the poorest; and the looming water crisis, which threatens our economic recovery.

We hope for better days, and that is our wish and everyone’s wish, but we remain steadfast in demanding democratic narratives and behaviors, in line with what the Brazilian people long for and deserve.

We have no more time to waste.”