During his time as a federal judge, Sergio Moro became something of an executioner figure for ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, politicians from the Workers’ Party government support base, and businessmen who made fortunes with the embezzlement of public money. He sent many of his defendants to jail — including Lula — as part of the sweeping Operation Car Wash investigations.
Some years on, another judge may become the executioner of the Brazilian president. As a justice of the Supreme Court, Alexandre de Moraes is leading three inquiries that impact upon Jair Bolsonaro on various fronts and could even cost him his term and lead to the arrest of his loyal supporters. As a result, he has simultaneously been targeted as a pariah by pro-government groups, and sanctified by some wings of the opposition. It has been quite an image shift for Justice Moraes, who took his seat on the Supreme Court as the most conservative justice in over a decade.
It also shows just how much power judges can wield in Brazil, under the right circumstances. And how often the country’s legal system is intertwined in politics.
Supreme Court on a collision course with Bolsonaro
One of the aforementioned investigations was created by order of Chief Justice Dias Toffoli, to examine attacks against the Supreme Court and its justices by way of fake news, defamatory accusations, and death threats, in addition to calls for closing the court in a military coup.
The probe has already allowed Justice Moraes to issue a wide variety of orders, including temporarily removing an article with negative information about the Chief Justice from a digital magazine last year, which was considered an unreasonable act of censorship, even among his Supreme Court peers.
In May of this year, Justice Moraes ordered a police operation against members of Congress, business owners, and activists linked to President Bolsonaro, accusing these individuals of being part of a criminal organization operating a network of disseminating fake news and threats against the Supreme Court. The suspects have claimed they are victims of persecution, calling the orders against them ‘authoritarian acts’ and reaffirming their right to freedom of expression.
Justice Moraes has also given orders in the inquiry that investigates the organization and funding of anti-democratic protests carried out in Brasília and other major cities in the country. President Bolsonaro was present at some of these demonstrations, alongside cabinet ministers and allied politicians.
Opened at the request of the Federal Attorney General, Alexandre de Moraes is the rapporteur of the investigation. Among other things, this...
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