Happy Monday! This week: Bolsonaro’s fight with the Supreme Court puts the Senate in the hot seat. Plus: divisions within Congress. And how Brazil burns an area equivalent to England in size every year.
Senate squeezed between Bolsonaro and Supreme Court
Over the weekend, President Jair Bolsonaro ramped up his provocations against the Supreme Court, tweeting that he will request the Senate impeach Justices Luís Roberto Barroso and Alexandre de Moraes. They are, respectively, the presiding judge of the Superior Electoral Court and the rapporteur of an investigation into far-right social media troll armies.
Why it matters. Though it is hardly expected that Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco will put the requests to a floor vote, the move inevitably increases tensions between the branches of government.
Tug-of-war. Stuck in the middle of Mr. Bolsonaro’s war of attrition with the Supreme Court, pressure will now be put on Mr. Pacheco to take a stand. So far, the Senate President has done little beyond making general statements in favor of democracy — without directly responding to any of the president’s attacks on institutions.
- Mr. Pacheco plans to simply do nothing about the impeachment requests, but justices say in private that, this time around,...