Fear of STF retaliation should guarantee Zanin’s approval in the Senate

With only two explicitly contrary votes in the Senate Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ) – those of senators Eduardo Girão (Novo-CE) and Magno Malta (PL-ES) –, lawyer Cristiano Zanin, 47, nominated for the Supreme Court (STF) by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), should have its name confirmed by the collegiate this Wednesday (21) and, soon after, also by the plenary of the House, with equal ease.

This consecration is due to the tradition of approving presidential choices. Candidates to the Supreme Court were barred in the history of the Republic only in 1894, during the troubled government of Floriano Peixoto. But the main factor favoring Zanin is the dependence of senators on the STF to prevent legal sanctions.

In the current legislature, at least 35 of the 81 senators (43% of the total) had or still have criminal investigations open against them in the STF. According to analysts, this partly explains the cautious tone adopted by senators when signaling their votes for court nominees. Some of the processes are still pending and await decisions by ministers to have an outcome. In addition, there are still several lawsuits in the civil area related to senators that are awaiting analysis by members of the Supreme Court.

In plenary, it is estimated that Zanin has a maximum of 20 votes against his nomination, as part of the senators must vote against, but without attracting attention. Thus, in addition to Malta and Girão, oppositionists Rogério Marinho (PL-RN), Cleitinho (Republicanos-MG), Marcos do Val (Podemos-ES), Luiz Carlos Heinze (PP -RS), Damares Alves (Republicanos-DF), Hamilton Mourão (Republicanos-RS) and Sergio Moro (União Brasil-PR), with whom Lula’s lawyer clashed when the senator was a Lava Jato judge.

Lawyer for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), who nominated him to fill the vacancy of former minister Ricardo Lewandowski, Zanin had his resistances related to the lack of impersonality and academic career overcome by the fact that the Supreme Court is the privileged forum for federal parliamentarians.

In his wanderings through the offices before the Saturdays, the nominee received block support from parties allied with the Planalto and opposition names, such as Carlos Portinho and Ciro Nogueira, former Minister of the Civil House of the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL). The former president himself stated that the appointment of STF minister is an “exclusive competence” of the Chief Executive.

To have the nomination confirmed by the Senate, 41 votes are needed, but Zanin may have about 20 more. The biggest approval difficulties in the recent past involved the nominations of ministers Edson Fachin, by Dilma Rousseff (PT), in 2015, and André Mendonça, by Bolsonaro (PL), in 2021. Fachin received 52 votes in favor and Mendonça, 47.

Critical senators will take questions to the sabbath

Senator Magno Malta (PL-ES), despite being accused of slander brought by Minister Luís Roberto Barroso, of the STF, after having said in a public event that Barroso “beat women”, maintains his firm stance of rejecting Zanin’s nomination. “Fear? I don’t know this one, I was never introduced to him”, said the senator to People’s Gazette.

Eduardo Girão (Novo-CE), who also voted against Lula’s nominee, said he was “only fulfilling the role of parliamentarian”, promising to ask questions he deems pertinent to the lawyer during the questioning.

Marcos do Val, who will also vote against the nomination, is the most recent target of inquiries by the STF, following the determination of Minister Alexandre de Moraes to open a procedure to investigate suspected crimes of false testimony in live transmission, after stating that Bolsonaro tried to coerce him into a coup d’état and then denied the fact to the Federal Police (PF).

Also reported by Moraes, another investigation investigates Moro for alleged interference with the Federal Police in Bolsonaro’s management.

Reputation criteria and legal knowledge have become a formality

In a press conference in Rio last Monday (19), the Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino, defended Zanin’s nomination to the STF and said there was no problem with the fact that the lawyer was also a person close to Lula. “We have several systems in the world for appointing ministers to the supreme courts, but they all have something in common. No authority appoints anyone who is their enemy or political rival,” he said. “Almost 30 days after the president’s nomination, no concrete facts have emerged that say that the future Minister Zanin does not have the remarkable legal knowledge or does not have an unblemished reputation, requirements of the Constitution”, he said.

For political analyst José Amorim, Zanin’s confirmation process at the STF will follow only as a mere formality. “The government’s base calculates the support of around 60 senators, with Zanin only needing 41 for approval. The president of the CCJ himself, Davi Alcolumbre (União Brasil-AP), has already signaled that the lawyer has the necessary votes for approval.

At the prior meeting of the committee, Senator Veneziano Vital do Rêgo (MDB-PB), rapporteur for the nomination, presented a favorable opinion,” he said. He believes that the vote in the CCJ will be questioned by oppositionists, especially about the “remarkable legal knowledge”. But nothing able to change the final result.

If he passes the senators’ scrutiny, Zanin may remain in the STF, according to current criteria, until November 15, 2050, when he will turn 75. In the case of ministers of the Supreme Court, the Constitution requires age above 35 years and below 70, in addition to such requirements as “remarkable legal knowledge” and “unblemished reputation”.

According to the rapporteur for the nomination, Zanin “was active in the construction and maintenance of our constitutional jurisprudence, through the subscription of several constitutional claims, in order to ensure the authority of the Supreme Court’s decisions”.

Fight with father-in-law and report of nannies

According to the newspaper The globe, Cristiano Zanin has broken up with his father-in-law, Roberto Teixeira, a friend of Lula through whom he met the president. Zanin and Teixeira shared a law firm, but their relationship deteriorated throughout 2022. Zanin decided to end the partnership and establish his own firm with his wife, Valeska Teixeira Martins.

The tensions were motivated by personal issues, but evolved into the professional field, involving, according to the newspaper, a battle for the right to legal fees in the amount of R$ 9.1 million related to a lawsuit in which the TV station Rede 21, defended by the former firm of Zanin and Teixeira, sought compensation from the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God for default and breach of contract relating to the sale of programming rights.

In addition to this episode, the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo revealed in April that two lawsuits were filed in court in 2017 and a third in March against Zanin referring to three former nannies of his and Valeska’s children. They filed lawsuits in São Paulo with accusations of moral damages and abusive working conditions. In the actions, lawyers report that the workers were offended by Zanin’s lawyer and wife and treated humiliatingly by her. The processes ran in secrecy. According to Folha de S. Paulo, compensation was paid in the 2017 case. To the press, Valeska said that the allegations were “fabricated”, with the aim of confusing her mother’s zeal with financial interests and, at the same time, damaging her husband’s reputation.