Rapporteur delivers report on Zanin’s nomination to the STF and confirms sabbatine

Veneziano Senator Vital do Rêgo (MDB-PB) delivered this Thursday (15) the report on the nomination of lawyer Cristiano Zanin to the post of Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), appointed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). The congressman stated that the jurist has sufficient experience and knowledge in law for the Court.

The presentation of the report is the first step towards forwarding the nomination to the senators’ Saturday, which is confirmed for June 21, at 10:00 am, at the Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ) of the house.

Vital do Rêgo said, in the report, that he stresses that the analysis of Zanin’s appointment was restricted to the “objectives and criteria required” by the Constitution, which he had already advanced this week regardless of the relationship with the president. The lawyer defended Lula in the Lava Jato lawsuits.

“Those who judge must always remember to have and maintain balance, a sense of justice, independence and impartiality. Those who judge must recognize the limits that their decisions can reach, that is, not allowing themselves to extrapolations that, sometimes, prove to be irresistible and that make the firm foundations on which democratic institutions are planted ”, he says.

The senator also highlighted Zanin’s career since his formation in 1999, his work in the Public Prosecutor’s Office and in the Judiciary of São Paulo and his passage through law firms. Vital do Rêgo also mentions that the lawyer was responsible for the report on “International Judicial Cooperation and on the National Strategy to Combat Corruption and Money Laundering”, within the scope of the Technical Group on Justice and Public Security in the Presidential Transition Office, in 2022.

“Specifically in the practice of law before the Federal Supreme Court, we have that, over these years, the nominee Cristiano Zanin Martins has acted in the construction and maintenance of our constitutional jurisprudence, through the subscription of several Constitutional Claims, in order to ensure the authority of the decisions of the Supreme Court”, explains the rapporteur.

One of the points that were being questioned about Zanin’s nomination to the STF was that he would not meet the requirement of “remarkable legal knowledge”, without having a master’s or doctorate in the area. The rapporteur contested this statement in the report and wrote that the lawyer was “the author of countless legal studies that permeate discussions in forensic environments due to the dense proposed approaches”, such as the publication of articles referring to judicial recovery processes, criminal sentences, general repercussions , between others.

Quick processing questioned

The reading of the report, already scheduled for a week from now, was questioned by senator Eduardo Girão (Novo-CE), that the indication “was at the speed of light” in comparison with the procedure that took André Mendonça to the STF, in 2021, which would have taken around five months.

“Why this difference? I see that there were two weights and two measures. Why was there that delay of almost five months that has never happened in almost 200 years of history, and now President Lula indicates, last week or the day before, the report is already read and next week is the sabbatine”, he questioned.

The president of the CCJ, Davi Alcolumbre (União Brasil-AP), replied that the deadlines are a “discretionary decision of the presidency that, in this case, saw fit, in the face of so many criticisms that were raised in relation precisely to this episode of the nomination of André Mendonça, we chose to try to speed things up as much as possible”.

Alcolumbre mocked Girão’s questioning and said that, for the next nomination, he will give a “medium term” period of three months for the procedure. The session that received Senator Vital do Rêgo’s report lasted just over 20 minutes.