Fachin Takes Over the Moraes Case and the Master Files Together
BRAZIL · SUPREME COURT
Key Facts
- —The move Chief Justice Edson Fachin made himself sole rapporteur of the case on the Moraes and Vorcaro messages on Saturday 12 September.
- —The instrument A monocratic decision citing Article 13, item XV of the court’s internal rules.
- —The rest He also removed André Mendonça as rapporteur of the linked Banco Master and INSS petitions.
- —The reasoning Letting Mendonça rule on the Moraes case risked triggering the impediment rule in Article 144, item IV of the civil procedure code, since Moraes had asked for an inquiry into Mendonça.
- —Not a removal under protest Mendonça had already suspended his own action and sent it up, in what reporting describes as faithful compliance.
- —The dates The Moraes matter goes to the panel on Tuesday 15 September. The Mendonça matter follows on 23 September.
For the first time, Brazil’s biggest investigation into a sitting justice and the Banco Master fraud case sit with one rapporteur, and he is the court’s president.
Brazil’s chief justice consolidated the Banco Master crisis under his own hand on Saturday, taking the Moraes and Vorcaro file for himself and lifting André Mendonça off every process connected to Master and to the social security fraud scandal.
What Was Decided
Fachin issued a monocratic decision on 12 September, citing Article 13, item XV of the Supreme Court’s internal rules, taking over as rapporteur of Petição 16.662, the file on messages between Alexandre de Moraes and Daniel Vorcaro.
In the same move he removed Mendonça from the linked petitions on Banco Master and on the INSS social security fraud, cited in reporting as Petição 15.041 and Petição 15.556.
His stated reasoning is procedural. Leaving Mendonça to rule on the Moraes case risked the impediment rule in Article 144, item IV of the civil procedure code, because Moraes had separately asked for an inquiry into Mendonça’s own conduct.
Two justices each seeking an inquiry into the other, with one of them holding the file on the other, is exactly the configuration that rule exists to prevent.
Mendonca Went Quietly
This was not a removal against resistance. Estadão’s sourcing describes it as done with Mendonça’s agreement, and the sequence supports that reading.
On 9 September Fachin ordered the suspension of every procedure concerning the possible investigation of Supreme Court members, requiring such matters be routed to the presidency. Mendonça lifted secrecy on the Master records at Fachin’s request, then on 12 September halted his own action on the Moraes messages and sent it upward.
Reporting describes that step as faithful compliance with the court’s rules rather than a concession extracted from him. Fachin’s own order superseded his rapporteurship hours later.
What Fachin Has Actually Said
Care is needed with the framing circulating around this decision. Fachin has not been quoted saying he wants the crisis resolved before the election.
What he has said is that there will be neither haste nor omission, in the Portuguese não haverá precipitação, tampouco omissão, and that the gravity of the facts does not authorise shortcuts.
Several outlets are making close to the opposite argument, that his own procedural timetable pushes the substantive resolution up against the 4 October election, and that this is a criticism of him rather than a credit.
The Rio Times reports the schedule and not the intention behind it.
What Centralisation Changes
Until Saturday the Master investigation, the INSS fraud file and the question of investigating a sitting justice were distributed across rapporteurs, each with its own disclosure decisions and its own pace.
They now sit with the president of the court, who also controls the plenary calendar. That removes the disclosure asymmetry that dominated last week, when the justice managing the evidence for Tuesday was himself scheduled for review on the 23rd.
It also concentrates an extraordinary amount of authority in one office during an election campaign. Brazil has no precedent for a sitting justice being criminally investigated in the court’s 136 years, and the person who will now decide how that proceeds is the person who runs the institution.
Daniel Vorcaro remains in pretrial detention at the federal penitentiary in Brasília, where he was transferred in March.
More: Brazil news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Fachin decide?
He made himself rapporteur of the Moraes and Vorcaro file and removed André Mendonça from the linked Banco Master and INSS petitions, on 12 September 2026.
Why?
To avoid the impediment rule in Article 144, item IV of the civil procedure code, since Moraes had asked for an inquiry into Mendonça.
Was Mendonça removed against his will?
Reporting describes it as done with his agreement. He had already suspended his own action and sent the file to the presidency.
When are the sessions?
The Moraes matter goes before the panel on 15 September. Mendonça’s conduct is reviewed on 23 September.
Did Fachin say he wants it settled before the election?
No such quote is confirmed. He has said there will be neither haste nor omission and that the gravity of the facts does not authorise shortcuts.
Sources: Poder360, Metrópoles, A Gazeta, JOTA, Jornal de Brasília, InfoMoney.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error
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