Current Solicitor General set to fill Supreme Court vacancy

President Jair Bolsonaro has picked Solicitor General André Mendonça to succeed Supreme Court Justice Marco Aurélio Mello, who will turn 75 years old on July 12 and thus reach mandatory retirement age. Mr. Bolsonaro confirmed his decision during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

As we noted in this morning’s Brazil Daily newsletter (for premium subscribers only), Mr. Bolsonaro assured supporters that the upcoming Supreme Court vacancy would be filled by an Evangelical Christian judge. The president had promised to appoint an “extremely Evangelical” justice upon taking office in 2019, but did not follow through on his pledge when a first vacancy opened up in October 2020.

The president’s political advisors hope the pick will energize his evangelical support base as we enter the 2022 election campaign, in which Mr. Bolsonaro is trailing former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the polls. Mr. Mendonça is a Presbyterian preacher and has the support of multiple Christian leaders who met with Mr. Bolsonaro over the last few months.

The soon-to-be-appointed justice has 20 years of experience in public service, most of that time spent at the Solicitor General’s Office — which he led between January 2019 and April 2020, and then since March of this year. He served as Justice Minister during the brief interim and was brought back as Solicitor General during President Bolsonaro’s latest cabinet reshuffle.

Before joining the Bolsonaro administration, André Mendonça enjoyed credibility among...