Happy Friday! We’re back from the April 21 holiday, which celebrates independence hero Tiradentes. But the holiday was a busy one, with a new and deeper institutional crisis. Plus, why France should continue to roadblock the Mercosur-EU trade deal. And the hours entrepreneurs are wasting on bureaucracy.
Bolsonaro one-ups the Supreme Court
The case of Congressman Daniel Silveira only gets bigger — and deepens Brazil’s ongoing institutional crisis. The Supreme Court convicted the lawmaker on Wednesday for issuing threats against its members on several social media posts. Less than a day later, President Jair Bolsonaro issued a pardon to the lawmaker.
- Mr. Silveira is an unimportant lawmaker who the far-right turned into a symbol used to accuse the Supreme Court of curtailing freedom of expression. Legal scholars are split on whether the legal measures against Mr. Silveira are correct.
Why it matters. A president has never issued a decree to nullify a Supreme Court decision in the history of Brazilian democracy.
- The pardon is the president’s way of flipping off the court, but by doing so he is taking the institutional crisis to new depths — just months away from the general elections.
Feud. The Supreme Court and the president...