Chance of Lula nominating a woman to the STF decreases – 02/06/2023 – Mônica Bergamo

President Lula (PT) has already established a criterion for nominating Minister Rosa Weber’s replacement at the Federal Supreme Court (STF), which should take place in October, when she retires: the new magistrate will need to be close enough to him so that both can at least dialogue naturally, and without intermediaries.

In the words of a government minister: scalded by everything that he has already gone through in his life, Lula will not refer to the STF a person he cannot call.

It is a different way of saying what Jair Bolsonaro (PL) said when he chose magistrates for the Court: “I will indicate who drinks beer with me”. Or, in the case of a conservative judge, “let him take tubaine.”

You don’t have to be a friend or pledge canine loyalty. But it needs to be at least accessible to Lula, say the PT’s assistants. And for that, it is not enough to have a good curriculum, or to have strong supporters.

In this context, the candidacy of a woman to the STF loses strength.

Despite the intensifying pressure for Lula to contemplate the demand for a female nomination, he would not know closely any of the candidates being considered for the position. And time would be short for the president not only to get closer, but for him to get to know their thoughts to the point of establishing a relationship of trust.

The only woman Lula would be close to, to the point of picking up the phone and calling, is law professor Carol Proner. The lawyer got involved in the campaign to get him out of prison and even met with Pope Francis to talk about what jurists considered political persecution against Lula through judicial channels, the so-called “lawfare”.

Carol Proner is married to Chico Buarque, and the couple also has a friendly relationship with Lula and the first lady, Rosângela da Silva, Janja.

The nomination of a woman, therefore, is something that Lula considers. But there are bumps in the way for that to happen.

In the view of Lula’s direct assistants, the expectation of unrestricted loyalty from a magistrate appointed to the STF is illusory, and the president knows that he cannot even expect that from people close to him today.

Once sworn in, the minister has power equivalent to that of the president. He even has the advantage of staying in office even after Lula leaves the government, and not being removed until he turns 75.

If even family members fight and disagree, let alone political authorities, say the same members of the government.

Having access to the new magistrate, although not complete loyalty, however, is considered fundamental for Lula, according to the same interlocutors.

The government is aware, despite the difficulties, that the pressure for it to nominate a woman to the STF will increase in the coming months.

Minister Rosa Weber herself would have given the password.

In a meeting on Thursday (1st) with the President of Finland, Sauli Niinistö, who is on an official visit to Brazil, she said: “Here in Brazil we have many women at the base of the judiciary, in Justice at the first level, but the number decreases in At the top, in the superior courts, the number is tiny”, said the minister.

_{with BIANKA VIEIRA, KARINA MATIAS It is MANOELLA SMITH}

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