Dino voted in the STF in favor of the PSB days after leaving the party – 02/29/2024 – Power

The minister of the STF (Supreme Federal Court) Flávio Dino presented a vote on Wednesday (28) that would benefit the PSB, a party from which he left about ten days ago, in a trial on the distribution of so-called electoral surpluses in the Legislative Branch.

Dino was one of the ministers who argued that the changes to the rule for sharing these vacancies should be retroactive to the 2022 elections. This position ended up being defeated by 6 votes to 5. If it prevailed, the PSB could gain an additional federal deputy.

The Supreme Court jointly judged three ADIs (direct unconstitutionality actions) presented by Rede, PSB and PP, which questioned rules approved in 2021 on the division of seats in the Legislature.

By majority, the court understood that these rules will no longer be valid for this year’s elections, but that the decision will not be retroactive to the 2022 election.

Five ministers voted in favor of retroactivity: in addition to Dino himself, this was the understanding of Alexandre de Moraes, Gilmar Mendes, Dias Toffoli and Kassio Nunes Marques.

If this happened, according to a survey by Abradep (Brazilian Academy of Electoral and Political Law), seven deputies would have their elections annulled: two from the PL, one from the PDT, one from the MDB, one from the PP, one from the Republicans and one from the Union Brazil.

In their place, one member from the Republicans, one from the PP, one from the PSOL, one from the PC do B, two from Podemos and one from the PSB would take up seats in the Chamber – the latter, the former governor of the Federal District Rodrigo Rollemberg.

Dino, who has a long career in politics, was elected senator for the PSB of Maranhão in 2022 and had joined the PSB the previous year, after extensive activism in the PC do B.

He became Minister of Justice in the Lula (PT) government and only returned to the Senate in February of this year, when he was already approved for the Supreme Court and was awaiting his inauguration at the court, which took place on the 22nd.

Dino only resigned from his post in Congress on the 21st, the day before he became a member of the STF. PSB’s disaffiliation occurred shortly before taking office at the Supreme Court.

Experts consulted by Sheet differ regarding Dino’s decision to vote on an action related to the party he had left a few days before.

When contacted by the report, the minister did not comment.

Bruno Andrade, deputy general coordinator of Abradep, recalls that the action judged in the STF is one of concentrated control, that is, it involves legal arguments against norms due to possible incompatibilities with the Constitution.

In theory, in this type of action, there are no “winning parties” in the process.

“With this premise in mind, it is certain that the effects of this decision have consequences throughout the world, and the declaration of unconstitutionality could benefit specific people, including one from the same party to which minister Flávio Dino belonged”, says Andrade.

“Considering that not even the other associations involved raised such a question, I consider that there is effectively no room to consider that some type of conflict occurred”, he states.

“The minister’s relationship with the eventual beneficiary is not known and, furthermore, in a collegial body there are no exactly losers or winners. There are opposing legal theses.”

The lawyer specializing in constitutional law Vera Chemim has a different view. According to her, “it cannot be denied that minister Flávio Dino would have an interest in the object of that action, even though he recently left his political party to assume his role as minister of the STF”.

She points out that the Code of Civil Procedure provides that a minister declares himself a suspect when he is “interested in the judgment of the case in favor of any of the parties”.

“Despite being defeated, Flávio Dino voted, not only for the unconstitutionality of the electoral rule, but also incisively defended its retroactivity, which clearly demonstrates his interest in the outcome of that trial”, says the lawyer.

Suspicion, however, is reserved for subjective, intimate situations. It is up to the magistrate to declare himself a suspect, and he does not need to present his reasons.

Aílton Soares de Oliveira, a lawyer in the area of ​​strategic and constitutional litigation, states that he sees no suspicion of Dino, “as he had no personal benefit from this and there is no specific involvement or action by him as a member of the electoral association in the sense to plead the thesis that he ended up adopting as minister”.

“In my opinion, the isolated fact that he was a member of the electoral association does not bring any impediment or suspicion.”

Dino is not the only STF minister who was affiliated with a party. Alexandre de Moraes, who held the position of Minister of Justice in the Michel Temer (MDB) government, was a member of the PSDB.

In judging the electoral surplus, the parties argued that constitutional principles were violated by the 2021 amendment.

They stated, for example, that the measure violates the principles of political pluralism, in addition to the democratic rule of law, equality of chances, popular sovereignty and the proportional system.

In its action, the PP stated that the change in the rule created an “overrepresentation of parties that already enjoy greater representation and that are structured around candidates with greater personal projection”.

This, said the party, was “to the detriment of groups that have a greater dispersion of votes.”

This judgment was Dino’s first vote in the physical plenary of the court. He stated that he saw an excess in the rule when he spoke out for its overturn.