Mr. Impeachment

There are few common threads between the impeachment processes against former Brazilian Presidents Fernando Collor in 1992, and Dilma Rousseff in 2016.

The former’s administration was riddled with corruption allegations and Mr. Collor tried to avoid having his political rights suspended by resigning — but Congress still banned him from politics for eight years. Dilma Rousseff, on the other hand, never faced any allegations of personal illicit enrichment but doctored the federal budget to hide massive deficits. She was booted from office, and still kept her political rights thanks to legally questionable backstage negotiations.

There is one constant between the two impeachment requests, however: legal scholar Miguel Reale Jr. authored both of them. And now he is trying to get a third notch on his belt by ousting President Jair Bolsonaro.

Mr. Reale Jr., who briefly served as Justice Minister in 2002, has led a committee of experts who have drafted a legal opinion arguing that Mr. Bolsonaro has entered impeachment territory due to his behavior during the pandemic. 

“By encouraging people to gather, not wear masks, and not get vaccinated, President Jair Messias Bolsonaro incited the Brazilian population to infringe government norms aimed to contain the spread of a contagious disease,” they wrote in a document addressed to the Senate’s Covid inquiry. 

The list of crimes they attribute to Mr. Bolsonaro includes malfeasance, charlatanism, crimes against public health, and crimes against humanity.

This legal opinion will be used in the drafting of the Covid inquiry’s final report. Senator Renan Calheiros, who will write the document, has made no bones about the fact he will recommend Mr. Bolsonaro’s indictment. He has become an enemy of the First Family, and was called a bum by Senator Flávio Bolsonaro during a televised session.

A career in moderate politics

A...