Bolsonaro set to leave his fingerprints on Brazil’s justice system

Flagging in the polls 10 months removed from the 2022 election, President Jair Bolsonaro has tried to win voters back by telling them that the next head of state will have the right to appoint two Supreme Court justices by 2026. After already picking two members of the 11-seat court, winning re-election would give Mr. Bolsonaro to reshape the court with a total of four nominations at the very least. 

Mr. Bolsonaro has never demonstrated any shame in appointing firm allies to high court positions, even suggesting in the 2018 campaign that he could pack the Supreme Court with an extra 10 justices if victorious. Of the current crop of members in Brazil’s highest court, Mr. Bolsonaro is opposed to a majority, accusing them of being “left-leaning.” Meanwhile, several incumbent justices see themselves as institutional guardrails protecting against the president’s anti-democratic outbursts.

As things stand, however, those two coveted Supreme Court picks seem far from Mr. Bolsonaro’s grasp. With 10 months to go until the election, the president trails center-left icon and former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva by more than 20 points. If the vote were held today, Lula would...