Lewandowski’s departure scrambles the plan to judge Bolsonaro – 04/11/2023 – Politics

Minister Ricardo Lewandowski’s decision to retire from the STF (Federal Supreme Court) in April may scramble the plans hitherto outlined at the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) for the judgment of actions that target Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

Lewandowski left the seat he had held for 17 years at the STF this Tuesday (11). He could have retired until May 11, when he will turn 75, but he decided to anticipate his departure.

The minister’s retirement could affect both the scoreboard and the date of Bolsonaro’s trial in the Electoral Court.

According to magistrates who follow the subject, the idea of ​​a wing of the court was that the first action against the former president be placed on the agenda at the end of this month.

Ministers wanted Lewandowski to participate in the analysis of the case with the aim of preventing Kassio Nunes Marques, who will replace him, from being at the trial. The idea was that all three members of the STF would vote in the same way, but Kassio’s entry as the court’s titular minister raises doubts about this score.

The minister appointed by Bolsonaro usually votes according to the interests of the former president in Supreme Court agendas.

In addition, Kassio suspended last year’s decision by the TSE that annulled the mandate of state deputy Fernando Francischini from Paraná.

Francischini had been impeached in October 2021 due to the publication of a video, in the 2018 elections, in which he claimed that there was fraud in the electronic ballot box to prevent voting in Bolsonaro. The case became a precedent in the TSE for how the court intended to act in the face of candidates who attack the electoral system.

The fact that Kassio suspended the decision is seen as an indication that he will vote to maintain Bolsonaro’s eligibility.

Regarding the deadline, people close to the president of the TSE, Minister Alexandre de Moraes, hope that he will put the first of the actions against Bolsonaro on trial by the end of April. They consider, however, that the president of the TSE will only take the issue to the plenary if he is sure that Bolsonaro will be declared ineligible for eight years – a period that counts from the 2022 election.

This Tuesday, for example, Moraes released the list of trials for April without the process that targets the former president, in a sign that he is not sure about the matter. He can still include the case in the review for the month after the reporter releases the case. Allies of the minister, however, fear that he will postpone the start of the trial.

Of the 16 ineligibility actions filed against Bolsonaro, the most advanced is a proposal by the PDT, which deals with a meeting with ambassadors at the Palácio da Alvorada last July. In the episode, the former president pointed out doubts and spread lies about the safety of electronic voting machines.

The lawsuit argues that Bolsonaro used the structure of the Palácio da Alvorada, in the meeting with ambassadors, to attack the integrity of the electoral system and accuses him of abuse of political power and misuse of the media.

The PDT asked in January that the coup draft found by the Federal Police during a search and seizure at the house of Anderson Torres, who was Bolsonaro’s Minister of Justice, be included in the action. The document proposed a decree to establish a state of defense at the headquarters of the TSE to review the result of the election. The draft gave robustness to the action, assess members of the court.

The deadline for the final allegations of the defense in this action has already ended and a period for manifestation of the Public Prosecutor’s Office has been opened, which ends this Wednesday (12).

This means, in the evaluation of TSE members, that the rapporteur, Minister Benedito Gonçalves, can finalize the opinion on the subject and release the case for judgment still next week. If this is confirmed, it will be up to Moraes to decide whether or not to include the process in the April agenda.

Ministers of the electoral court and other courts consider that the report will be favorable to ineligibility. They also predict that Bolsonaro should be convicted in the plenary — although there is doubt about the score. This Tuesday, the TSE rejected a request by the former president for Moraes to be declared barred from participating in the lawsuits by six votes, including that of Kassio.

The TSE is made up of seven justices, of which three are from the STF, two from the STJ (Superior Court of Justice) and two are lawyers appointed by the Supreme Court. In addition to them, there are seven deputy ministers.

Kassio must replace Lewandowski for being the substitute from the oldest STF. The Judiciary’s assessment is that his vote and that of Raul Araújo, from the STJ, are considered doubts. As the composition of the court is small, ministers believe that Lewandowski’s presence would give more security that a robust score would be reached against Bolsonaro.

The worst hypothesis for those who defend the former president’s ineligibility would be that ministers Carlos Horbach and Sérgio Banhos, who come from the legal profession, do not follow Benedito’s vote. In that case, if the four disagree with the report, Bolsonaro would emerge victorious and maintain his eligibility.

In 2021, Horbach was against removing Francischini’s mandate for attacks on the electoral system, diverging from the rest of the ministers.

Among the 15 other actions that ask that the former president be prevented from running for elections, there is another considered more grounded: the one that points to the existence of a wide network of disinformation that acted in favor of the candidacy of the former president, proposed by the PT.

According to people close to Moraes, the minister considers the action well prepared and that it could also lead to Bolsonaro’s ineligibility.

Get to know the TSE ministers, their origin and permanence in court:

titular ministers

• Alexandre de Moraes (STF, until Jun.24)
• Carmen Lúcia (STF, until Aug.24)
• Benedito Gonçalves (STJ, until Nov.23)
• Raul Araújo Filho (STJ, until Sep.24)
• Sérgio Silveira Baths (attorney, until May 23)
• Carlos Bastide Horbach (attorney, until May 23)

New starter, replacing Ricardo Lewandowski

• Kassio Nunes Marques (STF, until Aug.23)

deputy ministers

• André Mendonça (STF, until Apr.24)
• Dias Toffoli (STF, until Oct.24)
• Maria Isabel Gallotti (STJ, until Sept.24)
• Maria Claudia Bucchianeri (attorney, until Aug.23)
• André Ramos Tavares (attorney, until Nov.24)