Nominees to the STF have long but ineffective hearings – 06/20/2023 – Politics

The negative votes in the plenary, the long hours of the Sabbath and the content of the questions illustrate the resistance that some of the nominees to compose the STF (Federal Supreme Court) faced in the Senate.

But the last time the House rejected names from the court was in 1894, when it barred five chosen by then-president Marshal Floriano Peixoto.

Specialists who accompany the succession rite for a vacancy in the STF assess that the low risk of disapproval is the result of the political articulation made by each President of the Republic to guarantee the necessary votes in the plenary.

In the case of lawyer Cristiano Zanin, it took 51 days for President Lula (PT) to announce the choice, the longest for the PT candidate.

Zanin’s sabbatine at the Senate’s CCJ (Constitution and Justice Commission) is scheduled for this Wednesday (21). Then, his nomination to the STF must be voted on in plenary. There is no clarity on the size of Lula’s base in the House, but base senators estimate at least 55 votes for approval – out of the necessary minimum of 41.

The rapporteur for the meeting at the CCJ, Senator Veneziano Vital do Rêgo (MDB-PB), vice-president of the Senate and one of the main allies of the government, issued an opinion stating that Zanin complies with constitutional requirements: age between 35 and 70 years, notorious legal knowledge and unblemished reputation. The report will be read at the opening of the Saturday session.

Senate data show that, among the current occupants of the court, Minister Edson Fachin had the longest interrogation, with 12 hours and 39 minutes.

Fachin faced resistance due to his proximity to social movements and for having declared his vote for Dilma Rousseff (PT) in the 2010 elections.

Minister Alexandre de Moraes appears next, with a sabbath of more than 11 hours. In 2017, the then Minister of Justice under Michel Temer (MDB) had to speak out about controversies such as an alleged action in favor of the criminal faction PCC and the accusation of plagiarism of the work of a Spanish jurist. He rejected both cases.

In the most recent rites, the sabbaths took place without major clashes. First nominated by Jair Bolsonaro (PL), Kassio Nunes Marques faced about 10 hours of session in which he dodged on topics such as Lava Jato and fake news inquiry.

For André Mendonça, on the other hand, the main difficulty was scheduling the sabbath. After 143 days of waiting, the then AGU (Attorney General of the Union) had to respond to questions about his performance in matters such as religion and anti-democratic movements.

Professor at FGV Direito Rio and author of the book “Supremo Interest”, Álvaro Jorge says that political polarization made the questioning sessions longer. He cites the case of minister Dias Toffoli, chosen by Lula in 2009. A former PT lawyer, the AGU at the time was questioned for 8 hours and criticized for his proximity to the president, which should also happen to Zanin, he says.

Jorge also mentions the case of the minister and current president of the Supreme Court, Rosa Weber, who faced pranks from commission members who sought to disqualify the legal capacity of the then labor judge, something unusual in the face of male candidates.

For the professor and director of FGV Direito SP, Oscar Vilhena, the fact that senators have jurisdiction by function prerogative and are judged by the STF interferes with the analysis process in the House.

He also criticizes the lack of space for civil society issues, such as non-governmental organizations and colleges. Interaction is only possible by sending messages through the Senate’s e-Citizenship portal.

“The model as it stands has had no effect. We have never had a challenge from a candidate in the modern period and it is evident that several people who became ministers of the Supreme Court did not have the notorious legal knowledge and even the unblemished reputation”, says Vilhena, also columnist for Sheetwithout naming names.

A member of the OAB-SP constitutional law commission and professor at Escola Paulista de Direito, lawyer Luciana Berardi says that the ideology of the candidate for the Supreme Court has weighed more heavily in the questions raised by the CCJ than the need to verify the legal knowledge of the nominees.

“What has to be assessed is the possibility of this candidate manifesting himself with the impartiality that a judicial decision requires”, he says.

At the end of the meeting, the rapporteur’s opinion is voted on by the 27 members of the commission who are present. Survey made by Sheet shows that Mendonça was the one who faced the tightest score, with 18 to 9, followed by Moraes, with 19 to 7, and Fachin, with 20 to 7.

The final vote, however, is made in the plenary, where at least 41 votes of the 81 senators are needed for the nomination.

Senate data analyzed by the report show that there Mendonça and Fachin repeated the rejection. Bolsonaro’s nominee was approved by 47 to 32, the tightest score since 1989, surpassing the result of Dilma’s choice, 52 to 27. The lowest number of votes was registered by Francisco Resek, Fernando Collor’s name approved in 1992, by 45 to 16.

Vilhena (FGV-SP) states that the case of the two ministers exemplifies the political division in the country since 2013 and also a change in the choices made by presidents to seek more aligned profiles.

“Every time you have a nomination of a candidate who is understood as someone more ideological, he will be received in the Senate with greater resistance”, he says.