STF will have a “mild” agenda in the first half of 2023

The Federal Supreme Court (STF) returned from recess on Wednesday (1st), with the return of judgments in plenary. The President of the Court, Rosa Weber, has already defined the schedule of processes to be analyzed in plenary for the entire first semester. She gave priority to tax, administrative and business issues, as well as some disputes related to environmental protection and involving civil rights in police investigations.

In the political field, there are only two judgments foreseen. In February, the plenary decides whether the impeachment of a deputy annuls all the votes he received, preventing them from being reused by his party – in practice, this could lead to other parliamentarians of the same party losing office due to the Brazilian electoral model in which the Caption votes count. In June, ministers decide whether former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) could have blocked users from accessing their profiles on social networks. This is a “soft” judgment against Bolsonaro, as the question involves whether a president, a public figure, has the right to select who interacts with him on the networks.

Actions that generated expectation on the left and apprehension on the right were not scheduled. The main ones, ready for a decision, involve the decriminalization of abortion, the validity of the time frame for the demarcation of indigenous lands and Bolsonaro’s decree that pardoned the sentence of former deputy Daniel Silveira, convicted of threatening the ministers of the Court.

Silveira was arrested by the Federal Police this Thursday (2), for non-compliance with precautionary measures. The arrest warrant was issued by STF Minister Alexandre de Moraes. Hours earlier, the former deputy was cited by Senator Marcos do Val (Podemos-ES) as articulating an alleged coup d’état plan, with the participation of Bolsonaro. According to the senator, the plot would involve the attempt to record statements by Moraes that could be used to arrest the Supreme Minister and prevent the inauguration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

By not reserving dates for controversial political issues, Rosa Weber maintains the option, adopted since her inauguration as president of the STF, in September, of not feeding criticism of judicial and political activism. It also avoids accusations such as interference by the Judiciary in the attributions of the other Powers, which have become recurrent in recent years and have contributed to a climate of radicalization and hostility against the Court. If last year the moment was delicate due to the political polarization resulting from the election, now the apprehension remains due to the invasion of the headquarters building and depredation of the STF facilities, on January 8th.

The agenda, in any case, does not interfere with the power of each minister in their monocratic (individual) decisions. Alexandre de Moraes, for example, rapporteur of the new inquiries that investigate the attack on the Three Powers, tends to reinforce the tough action against opponents of the STF in the conduct of investigations – as happened this Thursday in relation to Daniel Silveira.

See below, month by month, the main issues to be examined by the 11 justices in the plenary of the STF:

February

In the first session of the year, on Wednesday (1st), the plenary began to discuss whether the STF’s change in understanding on some tax matter may affect collections in finalized cases, with final and unappealable decision (when there are no more appeals). . If the ministers decide that the effects of previous decisions cease when the jurisprudence changes, the Revenue may resume collecting taxes from companies that had already managed to get rid of them definitively in court.

This Thursday (2), in addition to resuming this judgment, the ministers can analyze a 2003 law that defined a period of 25 years, extendable for another ten years, for concessions of dry ports. The Attorney General’s Office (PGR) contested the length of this period, alleging lack of reasonableness and proportionality. In the same session, a judgment may be closed discussing whether the additional compensation for expropriation must be paid in cash or whether the owner must wait for payment in the form of a precatório.

The last item on the agenda involves the Rural Worker Assistance Fund (Funrural). The majority of the STF has already voted for the constitutionality of this contribution by companies in the sector, calculated on gross revenue from agricultural production and intended for employees’ social security. All that remains is to announce the result. The decision guarantees BRL 12.2 billion for the Union in 2023.

On the 8th, the STF decides whether to maintain the understanding of the TSE that annuls all votes received in the election by an impeached deputy. With that, your party stops counting those votes, as leftovers, to elect other deputies.

In the same session, the ministers decided whether the Justice could suspend the right of someone to drive, travel abroad or take part in public tender, seizing their national driver’s license (CNH) or passport, to force them to fulfill a judicial obligation – such as the payment of a debt.

On February 16, the ministers judge appeals against the decision that prohibited the extraction, industrialization, commercialization and distribution of chrysotile asbestos in the country.

On the 23rd, lawsuits contesting the monopoly of the Post Office to deliver slips for payment of taxes will be judged. On the same day, ministers can validate a law in São Paulo that obliges hospitals to provide a rest room for nurses.

March

On March 2, the plenary of the STF will decide whether, during an investigation, police officers can access data from a seized cell phone without prior judicial authorization. Information from calls, agenda and messages could identify other agents of the crime, but critics say that this is a violation of the secrecy of communications of the owner of the device.

On the 9th, the ministers will analyze actions that question the rules of the Ministry of Justice that restrict intimate visits in maximum security federal penitentiaries. On the same day, the STF analyzes the power of a judge to determine ex officio telephone interception, without a request from the Public Ministry or the police.

On the 15th, the plenary decides whether to maintain a preliminary decision from 2020 that suspended cuts of 158,400 Bolsa Família beneficiaries, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

April

On April 12, Supreme Court ministers judge a law in Rio de Janeiro that obliges maternity hospitals to carry out DNA tests on newborns to reduce the risk of swapping babies. The PGR points to violation of the rights to intimacy and privacy.

On the 13th, the Court discusses a device in the law to combat criminal organizations that allows a police chief or prosecutor to request registration data of investigated persons, from telephone operators, without prior judicial authorization.

On the 19th, the ministers will discuss rules for the retirement of judges, the pension for dependents. On the same day, they can analyze the base salary of community health agents.

Still in the session, the ministers will decide if it is legitimate that 10% of the union tax, when accepted by the employee, go to union centrals.

On April 20, ministers decide whether the FGTS balance should be monetarily corrected by the reference rate or a higher index, which resets inflation, for example.

May

On the 3rd, the STF will judge an action on the possibility of micro and small craft industries being able to form employers’ unions. Another judgment discusses how to fire public servants from state-owned companies.

On May 4th, ministers discuss whether law services can be contracted by public bodies without bidding, due to the special nature of the activity.

On May 11, ministers decide whether a state can create a register of drug users and addicts – the action involves law in Tocantins. Another action to be judged contests the possibility of a judge canceling the reduction of the sentence, obtained by work or study of the prisoner, due to serious misconduct committed in prison.

On the 17th, the ministers will analyze whether a public servant, admitted under a temporary contract, is entitled to maternity leave and stability during this period. On the date, the plenary also discusses whether crimes that involve serious violation of human rights should always be judged in Federal Justice.

On the 18th, the Court discusses whether it is constitutional law of Uberlândia (MG) that prohibited compulsory vaccination against Covid in the city and also restrictions for those who have not been immunized.

On the same date, ministers can define exceptional cases in which the State must provide, by court decision, high-cost medicines not listed by the Unified Health System (SUS).

Another trial scheduled for the 18th discusses whether a non-pregnant, homoaffective mother is entitled to maternity leave.

June

On June 1, ministers discuss whether the 2017 constitutional amendment that allowed vaquejadas is valid – previously, in 2016, ministers overturned a law that allowed this type of event, considering the suffering of animals.

The plenary can also decide whether the rules of the Forest Code apply to the Atlantic Forest, which has its own and stricter law for environmental protection. Another environmental action involves the constitutionality of a Pará law that obliges mining companies to pay compensation for damages caused in the activity.

On June 7, the ministers are analyzing actions against blocking that Bolsonaro made to users on his social networks, preventing them from accessing his posts from their accounts. The question had been raised in view of the fact that he was President of the Republic – a public office and, therefore, subject to demands by society.