The Supreme Court has formed a majority to repeal a presidential pardon granted by Jair Bolsonaro to then-congressman Daniel Silveira last year.
In April 2022, the Supreme Court sentenced Mr. Silveira to eight years and nine months in prison for threats to the democratic rule of law and coercion during a judicial process.
One day after his conviction, a national holiday in Brazil, then-President Bolsonaro issued a presidential pardon to Mr. Silveira. The pardon was made public before the legal staff of the president’s office had written a draft supporting the decision.
While he was under investigation in the so-called “digital militia inquiry,” which investigates if a coordinated disinformation crusade benefited Mr. Bolsonaro’s 2018 campaign, Mr. Silveira recorded videos threatening the Supreme Court justices. In those, he said that “the Supreme Court and electoral courts will no longer exist because we will not allow it” and that he had “imagined” Justice Edson Fachin “getting beaten up” in the street.
The Supreme Court and the electoral courts became the main targets of Mr. Bolsonaro and his allies’ vitriol during the second half of his term. Back then, the former head of state threatened to “no longer comply” with the decisions of Justice Alexandre de Moraes, and his allies in Congress have long slammed what they call the courts’ “judicial activism.”
During the January 8 riots, when hordes of pro-Bolsonaro demonstrators ransacked the buildings housing the three branches of government in Brasília, the Supreme Court suffered the most severe damage.
The voting so far
Chief Justice Rosa Weber is the rapporteur for petitions filed by four left-wing parties to overturn Mr. Bolsonaro’s pardon. Her full decision has not yet been made public.
According to the court’s press office, Ms. Weber wrote that the pardon was unconstitutional because the president could not use it to create “a circle of virtual criminal immunity” or to serve “personal interests.” The amnesty, in her view, also “subverted” the separation of powers, as the conviction was a Supreme Court decision.
Five other justices agreed with Justice Weber and voted in favor of the petitions to repeal the pardon. However, the two justices appointed by Mr. Bolsonaro — Nunes Marques and André Mendonça — voted to uphold the pardon, a recurring pattern in the court.
The ruling will continue on May 10, when the two remaining justices, Luiz Fux and Gilmar Mendes, will cast their votes. When confirmed, the verdict will also render Mr. Silveira ineligible to run for public office.
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