Brazilian Supreme Court justices invited to Senate grilling

The Brazilian Senate’s Oversight Committee invited this week three Supreme Court justices for a series of hearings that could well reflect badly on the country’s highest judicial body.

Justice Nunes Marques, appointed by President Jair Bolsonaro late in 2020, was called in to provide clarifications about a recent trip he made to Europe. The judge’s jaunt to France to attend the Champions League final, the Monaco Grand Prix, and Roland Garros was reportedly paid for by a lawyer with cases currently before the Supreme Court — and who has himself been linked to a kickback scheme. 

Including flights on a private jet, the trip’s costs were estimated at almost USD 50,000 — over six times Justice Marques’s monthly salary. Mr. Nunes Marques did not deny he took the trip but said the lawyer did not pay for his expenses.

Meanwhile, a separate invitation request is indicative of mounting grievances from a group of pro-Bolsonaro senators. 

It invites Justices Luís Roberto Barroso and Alexandre de Moraes to discuss “judicial activism and the separation of branches of power.” Due to their work at the head of Brazil’s electoral courts and investigations targeting President Jair Bolsonaro and his inner circle, the pair have...