STF ministers change votes and nod to Lula – 07/18/2023 – Politics

Ministers of the STF (Federal Supreme Court) changed their position and gave recent decisions interpreted behind the scenes as attempts to approach and maintain a good relationship with the Lula government (PT).

After four years of tough clashes with former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and having been one of the main targets of the January 8 coup attacks, the court experienced the first half of the PT administration in an atmosphere of harmony and with reciprocal nods.

One of Lula’s first agendas after the election was a visit to the Supreme Court, where he met with members of the court in the office of the president, Minister Rosa Weber.

In a judgment with a direct impact on one of the main support pillars of the PT, Minister Gilmar Mendes changed a vote previously given to defend the collection of assistance contributions from non-union workers.

In 2017, the court ruled that this type of contribution, which is instituted by agreement or collective agreement, is unconstitutional.

In early 2020, Gilmar voted against an appeal filed to overturn the decision. Now, however, he said that the rapporteur, Luís Roberto Barroso, presented a new perspective on the subject that led him to change his understanding.

“Evolving in my understanding of the subject, based on the fundamentals brought in the dissenting vote [de Barroso] now presented –which I will now incorporate into mine– I ask the justices of this court, especially those who accompanied me by rejecting the present embargoes of clarification, to change the vote previously given by me”, he said.

The analysis was interrupted by a request for a review (more time to examine the case) by Minister Alexandre de Moraes, with the score at 3-0 to release the charge. If the thesis has a majority, the unions will have an increase in revenue and will be strengthened.

Barroso, in turn, changed his position in relation to a member of Lula’s first echelon. This is the Minister of Regional Development, Waldez Góes, who filed an appeal to annul the 2019 conviction of the STJ (Superior Court of Justice) for embezzlement.

The magistrate initially voted against the request for annulment of the case. Afterwards, however, he retreated and positioned himself to benefit Lula’s ally.

The case analyzed by the First Panel of the court in June concerns the accusation that Góes, when he was governor of Amapá, diverted funds destined to pay payroll loans from state employees to use the money for other government expenses.

The minister was even acquitted in the first instance, but the Public Ministry appealed and, after he returned to being governor, the case went up to the STJ, which condemned him.

When they began analyzing the appeal, Barroso and then Minister Marco Aurélio voted to reject it. Moraes then asked for a view. When the trial resumed, Barroso changed his mind and accompanied Moraes to acquit Góes.

He stated that he changed the vote to respect the jurisprudence established by the plenary that decided, in a similar case, that there is no embezzlement in situations where fraud is not identified.

“Therefore, I am here surrendering to the principle of collegiality. Also because, truth be told, when I voted for the conviction I did not do it with a light heart”, said Barroso in the session.

Barroso says that he initially voted for the conviction because, although the former governor did not use the money diverted for personal enrichment, he understood that theses signed by the Supreme Court “must be universalizable”, and that one could not divert resources from the consignment, even if for other public purposes.

Minister Dias Toffoli, on the other hand, made an internal move in April in order to facilitate the environment for Lula to nominate his criminal lawyer and personal friend Cristiano Zanin for the Supreme Court.

As soon as Ricardo Lewandowski retired, he asked to change from the First to the Second Panel of the court, removing Lava Jato cases from the route of the PT candidate and avoiding embarrassment, since Zanin is a declared critic of the operation.

Toffoli’s change was part of an inflection by the minister in an attempt to get closer to Lula. He was appointed by the PT to the Supreme Court in 2009, when he was attorney general of the Union, and has always been a trusted name for the PT.

In recent years, however, he maintained a close relationship with Jair Bolsonaro and made nods to the Bolsonarist base, as when he classified the 1964 military coup as a “movement”.

The minister’s decision not to allow Lula to go to his brother’s wake while the PT supporter was imprisoned in Curitiba was the one that caused the greatest strain on the relationship between the two.

Minister Edson Fachin also acted to create a favorable environment for Zanin’s nomination and avoid embarrassment with his choice. He did this by sending Lula’s appeal against Lava Jato to Toffoli.

The case was under Lewandowski’s responsibility and would stay with Fachin temporarily until the new minister took office.

The magistrate, however, understood that, as Toffoli changed class, he should inherit the case. If the lawsuit fell with Zanin, he would be prevented from trying it, for having acted as a lawyer in it.

Before that, in 2021, Minister Cármen Lúcia changed her position on the performance of former judge Sergio Moro and voted for his declaration of suspicion in the cases against Lula.

Sought by the report, the Supreme Court ministers who changed their vote did not manifest themselves.