Evangelical Lawyers Association Backs Justice Minister for Supreme Court Position

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Minister of Justice and Public Safety André Mendonça, garnered support from the National Association of Evangelical Jurists (ANAJURE) in the undeclared race for a seat in Brazil’s Supreme Court (STF). ANAJURE formally announced its support for Mendonça in a letter sent on Tuesday, September 29th, to President Jair Bolsonaro.

The association states that Mendonça is a “consensual name” among evangelicals, “enjoys high trust and prestige in the government and among us evangelical jurists” and “appears to be the most consistent in the current scenario.”

“We can attest that he meets the constitutional requirements, namely outstanding legal knowledge and an unblemished reputation, as demonstrated in his performance as federal Solicitor General and Minister of Justice and Public Safety. Furthermore, he enjoys the support of religious organizations, missionary and religious educational institutions with which we have been related, thus being a consensual name within the evangelical segment”, states Uziel Santana, ANAJURE’s president, in the letter to Bolsonaro.

Santana stated that André Mendonça is currently ‘the strongest evangelical name’ for the position. “We are endorsing his name because he will undoubtedly contribute to the country. He is a balanced conservative, is known for his legal knowledge, has an unblemished reputation. He also has a history within government and is a trusted man of President Jair Bolsonaro and the ANAJURE,” Santana said.

He added that he hopes that Bolsonaro “fulfills his pledge to appoint an evangelical justice.” Uziel Santana said the evangelical association’s endorsement of Mendonça’s name would be naturally accepted by the President. Despite not being part of ANAJURE, Mendonça is considered an ally of the organization and often attends its annual conferences.

The tactics used in the run-up to appointing Celso de Mello’s successor on the STF were expedited because of his early retirement. He claimed medical grounds and formally applied to retire on October 13th instead of November 1st, when he will turn 75 and would do so compulsorily. His replacement, nominated by Bolsonaro, must undergo confirmation hearings in the Senate.

The choice of the first Supreme Court Justice appointed by Bolsonaro has been exciting the powers that be since last year, when the President vowed to appoint a conservative and “terribly evangelical” jurist. Several groups from the political, legal, and religious world are lobbying the Planalto Palace to show Bolsonaro the merits of their candidates. He has not yet stated which is his favorite, and he is free to choose whom he wishes, according to the law.

However, the President has already told aides that he will not yield to appeals that have been reaching the Planalto Palace. For Bolsonaro, it is imperative to appoint a trusted and reliable name at the earliest opportunity to advocate his agendas in Court.

André Mendonça is among the names listed on the (informal) Bolsonarism betting exchange. He is a pastor of the Esperança Presbyterian Church in Brasília and a career federal government attorney. Since he became Minister, although under suspicion by Bolsonaro’s most radical supporters, he has worked in tune with the President’s ideological line, ordering the opening of an inquiry for criticism of Bolsonaro published by journalists and cartoonists. He recently faced political strain from STF when it reviewed an intelligence file produced by his team that contained names of government officials alleged to be antifascists and perceived as adversaries to the government.

Other than Mendonça, the most widely cited possible appointee is General Secretary of the Presidency Jorge Oliveira, one of Bolsonaro’s closest and most influential advisors. A name trusted by the Bolsonaro clan, Oliveira was among those involved in selecting Mendonça’s résumé to head the Solicitor General’s Office. The betting list outside the Planalto is more extensive and includes the Federal Prosecutor General Augusto Aras and the former Chief Judge of the Federal Superior Court (STJ) João Otávio Noronha, among other magistrates and attorneys.

Since last year, Bolsonaro has chosen two names endorsed by ANAJURE for positions in the judicial system: Federal Prosecutor General Aras, and the new Federal Public Defender Daniel de Macedo Alves Pereira. Aras, did not compete in the internal Prosecutor General’s Office to be one of three nominees it sends to the President, but had the ANAJURE lobby for him after committing to a letter of Christian principles – Aras is a Roman Catholic.

For his part, Pereira is a presbyterian, and finished second in the internal vote among the federal public defenders. He also enjoyed ANAJURE’s support by pledging to create a working group for the “rights of the unborn child” – against abortion – among other issues. In practice, the association complains that the Public Defender’s Office has ceased to take a position in pregnancy interruption cases.

Besides these two, ANAJURE is very close to the Minister of Education, Milton Ribeiro, a Presbyterian pastor who serves as counselor to ANAJURE. This prompted the association to defend the Minister after he declared that gay adolescents come from “dysfunctional families” and expressed “reservations” regarding the work of transgender teachers. Ribeiro became the target of petitions at the Supreme Court asking him to be investigated for homophobia. ANAJURE claims that he “did not instigate hatred against homosexuals and transgenders” and that “the limits of freedom of expression have not been extrapolated.”

Founded in 2012, ANAJURE comprises some 800 members of the legal profession, including judges, attorneys and prosecutors, as well as legal scholars and theorists. Connected to international organizations of Christian lawyers, the organization is controlled by members of the so-called historical Protestant churches: Presbyterians, Baptists and Methodists.

Connected to the Presbyterian Church of Brazil, André Mendonça has a better rapport with the historical Protestants, a minority in Brazil, than with the Pentecostals, who are the majority among Brazilian Protestants.

Although fewer in number, the historical evangelicals have achieved prominence in the Bolsonaro government, with André Mendonça as their most distinguished representative. The Minister supported Milton Ribeiro to lead the Ministry of Education, an appointment that faced resistance from the Chamber of Deputies’ evangelical caucus. Ribeiro, also a Presbyterian pastor, took over the Ministry of Education (MEC) in July this year.

Despite the ANAJURE referral, Mendonça’s name is not unanimous among evangelical legislators and is not even among the Protestant leaders most closely linked to Bolsonarism. Recently, Pastor Silas Malafaia, of the Assembly of God, who famously baptised Bolsonaro, began to lobby for another candidate for the STF: federal judge William Douglas Resinente dos Santos, renowned for lectures and YouTube videos in which he offers tips for those seeking success in public bids.

The ANAJURE’s full public statement is below:

“The National Steering Board of the National Association of Evangelical Jurists (ANAJURE) publicly announces that today, September 29th, it formally announced to His Excellency, President Jair Bolsonaro, the appointment of Dr. André Luiz de Almeida Mendonça to the position of Federal Supreme Court Justice, given the impending retirement of the current doyen of the Court, His Excellency Justice Celso de Mello.

It is worth noting that a few weeks ago, aware of the fact that a position in the Court would be vacant, the ANAJURE began preparing to appoint a qualified and experienced name to fill the position, in due time. At the behest of the Evangelical Parliamentary Front, which sought to propose nominated jurists to President Bolsonaro, after deliberation by the National Steering Board Counselors, the name selected from among its 800 associates from across the country was that of Dr. Eduardo Sabo Paes, Prosecutor of Justice for the Federal District and Territories Prosecutor’s Office, former Prosecutor General, currently in charge of the Federal Prosecutor for Citizen Rights, one of the most respected jurists in our country, and member of the ANAJURE’s National Steering Board.

More recently, given the news of Justice Celso de Mello’s early retirement, and understanding that the appointment is a prerogative of the President of the Republic, the name of Dr. André Mendonça, who enjoys the highest level of trust and prestige within the Government and among us evangelical jurists, is the most consistent in the current scenario, thus the ANAJURE’s National Steering Board has unanimously decided to publicly endorse and recommend him.

We can attest that he meets the constitutional requirements, namely outstanding legal expertise and an unblemished reputation, as has been evidenced in his role as Solicitor General and Minister of Justice and Public Safety. Furthermore, he has been endorsed by the religious organizations, missionary agencies and religious educational institutions with which we have been connected, and is therefore a consensual name within the evangelical segment, with a trajectory marked by respect for fundamental rights and the rule of law and a high ability for dialogue.

September 29th, 2020

ANAJURE National Steering Board”

Source: Estadão Conteúdo