How Flávio Dino became Lula’s favorite for the STF

The Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino, became the favorite to occupy a seat on the Federal Supreme Court (STF) not only because he had the confidence of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). Contacts and experience within the Judiciary, experience and political acumen, direct confrontation with the right that supports former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), in addition to a certain antipathy and envy on the part of the PT, made the former judge, former governor and PSB licensed senator preferred for the position.

Today, Dino also has the support of the two most powerful ministers of the STF: Dean Gilmar Mendes and the president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), Alexandre de Moraes.

Their proximity to Lula interests them, especially at a time when the Court finds itself cornered in the face of initiatives in Congress that could reduce ministers’ powers, such as limits on monocratic decisions and requests for review, setting mandates and the possibility of reviewing their decisions. by the Legislature itself. The Executive, today, opposes these proposals because it has an ally in the STF and because it understands that their advancement could hinder the approval of its economic agenda, in addition to creating a crisis between the powers that would do nothing to help Lula.

In addition to being close to Lula, Dino also has access to Congress. In 2006, he left his career as a federal judge to be elected federal deputy for the PCdoB. During the Dilma Rousseff government, he was president of Embratur and, in 2014, he was elected governor of Maranhão, a position to which he was re-elected. Last year, he was elected state senator for the PSB. His political vocation comes from his birth: his father, a lawyer, was a councilor in São Luís, state deputy and mayor in the interior. If he is indeed nominated for the STF, his track record should guarantee Dino’s approval by the Senate.

The more pragmatic portion of the PT, in turn, prefers Dino in the STF because they are uncomfortable with the popularity and protagonism he achieved in less than a year in government. Dino was never part of the party and, within the STF, he would hardly give up his position as minister to run for President and, in doing so, frustrate plans by the PT party to succeed Lula in the Presidency – today, ministers Fernando Haddad are aiming for this position ( Fazenda) and Rui Costa (Casa Civil).

The PT would still be interested in occupying or sponsoring a name for the Ministry of Justice, which could also be dismembered, so that a specific portfolio for Public Security could be created. The two areas began to be considered fundamental to the government’s image, due to the increase in violence and crime in recent months.

Other than that, Dino is recognized within the PT and appreciated by Lula for being, within the government, the most staunch critic and opponent of politicians and groups linked to former president Jair Bolsonaro.

The Minister of Justice clashed with right-wing parliamentarians who summoned him to Congress, mainly to question the dismantling of the last government’s access to weapons policy, to ask him about the visit to Complexo da Maré, in Rio, and also about the suspected failure to protect Praça dos Três Poderes on January 8th.

Internet and PF regulation

The assessment of Lula’s entourage is that, in addition to the verbal clash, Dino also did well in more concrete measures, mainly in the attempt to pressure digital platforms to ban uncomfortable content on the left, under the pretext of combating “hate speech”. .

In July, in a speech at the National Union of Students (UNE) congress, the minister admitted that he defends stricter regulation of what passes through the networks because he considers that “the internet works as a platform for right-wing ideas, it works as a platform for economic power, functions as a platform for the denial of rights”.

The defense of regulation also pleases several STF ministers, who understand that the platforms allowed messages and posts to run rampant that encouraged the January 8th demonstration that resulted in the invasion and depredation of the headquarters of the Powers.

Dino acted in line with Alexandre de Moraes in May, when he opened an investigation at the Ministry of Justice against Google for publishing, on its initial search page, a link to a text critical of the “fake news” bill – a similar measure was taken by the minister at the judicial level, with the opening of a criminal investigation in the Court.

Dino’s ascendancy over the Federal Police is also seen as an attraction, since the current management and relevant positions within the corporation were filled with his participation and knowledge. The PF is important for the STF because it carries out investigations into Alexandre de Moraes in the “fake news” and “digital militias” investigations, the main fronts of the offensive against the right-wing linked to Bolsonaro.

Furthermore, there has been a tradition since 1988 of appointing Ministers of Justice to the Court. Alexandre de Moraes (appointed by Michel Temer), André Mendonça (appointed by Jair Bolsonaro), and former ministers Nelson Jobim (Fernando Henrique Cardoso), Maurício Corrêa (Itamar Franco) and Paulo Brossard (José Sarney) left the court. ).

Opposition to Lava Jato

Another factor that matters to Lula in the STF, present in Dino, is his position of open opposition to Lava Jato. The president regrets some appointments he made to the court and wants to avoid new investigations similar to the operation against him or his allies. The same criteria will be decisive for choosing the next Attorney General of the Republic.

In addition to critical statements against Lava Jato exponents, such as senator and former judge Sergio Moro and former prosecutor and impeached deputy Deltan Dallagnol, Dino mobilized the PF to investigate alleged irregularities in the 13th Federal Court of Curitiba, based on a recent inspection of the National Council of Justice (CNJ), focused on recovered resources. At the STF, therefore, Dino would join the wing that, since 2019, has been gradually annulling convictions and investigations.