The president of the STF (Federal Supreme Court), Luís Roberto Barroso, considers that the clashes with the Legislative Power are also a reflection of the Bolsonarist wave that took over the Congress in the last elections, with the support of a former president who elected the court “as your main enemy”.
In an interview with SheetBarroso states that, for four years, “there was a President of the Republic who elected the Supreme Court as his opponent” and that this political lineage has many representatives in Parliament.
The PL, Jair Bolsonaro’s party, reached 99 deputies in the 2022 elections, forming the largest group elected to the Chamber in the last 24 years and managed to occupy 14 seats in the federal Senate.
“It’s natural that these lawmakers want to meet the expectations of their constituents who think the Supreme Court is part of the problem,” he said.
“The former president attacked the Court and offended its members with a very high level of incivility. Anywhere in the world, this would be appalling,” he adds, also specifying that such behavior “was relatively tolerated by a large contingent of voters who identified with that language and that attitude.”
Despite this, the minister says he does not agree with the term “anti-STF guidelines”, used to define proposals analyzed by Congress that could reduce the responsibilities of its members.
In November, the Senate approved a PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) that limits the individual decisions of the ministers of the Court, after an offensive launched by the president of the Chamber, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG). The senator also defended the creation of a mandate for Court ministers.
Barroso says he has an excellent relationship with Pacheco, whom he defines as “an important and extremely civil and polite leader”, and with the President of the Chamber Arthur Lira (PP-AL).
However, he says there is a group of lawmakers in the Senate who have a harsh and critical view of the Supreme Court, which, to him, is unfair.
“He [Pacheco], president of a House, seeks, to some extent, to express the dominant sentiment in that House. What I reiterated once again is that tampering with the Supreme Court, in the year in which it was invaded by anti-democratic coup plotters, is bad symbolism,” he says.
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The STF president says he understands the circumstances of politics and has tried to convince voters, and indirectly those they represent, that the Supreme Court is not part of the problem, but of the solution.
“The Supreme Court has done a lot of good for the country. In defending democracy, we provide an important service. I don’t think the STF is always right, as a human institution, it has flaws. In a collegiate body, people have their own ideas, sometimes some of us diverge from some prevailing line, no one has the truth,” he said.
For the judge, the main modification to the PEC has already been spontaneously accepted by the Supreme Court, namely the submission to the Chamber of precautionary measures in direct appeals involving acts of other Powers.
Therefore, in his opinion, the problem is not its content, but its “symbolism and the possibility of conveying to society the wrong idea that the Supreme Court has a problem.”
STF refusal
Asked about the poll published this month by Datafolha, which showed an increase in public disapproval of the FST from 31% to 38%, Barroso said he was not impressed by the result.
He states that it is not possible to evaluate whether the Court adequately serves in public opinion research, but whether the institutions have survived coup attempts against democracy which, according to the minister, are largely due to the Court Supreme.
“We managed to stop authoritarian populism, we rendered an essential service to the country, which is the preservation of the Constitution and democracy,” he states. “The Supreme Court has fulfilled its role. Public opinion is a somewhat volatile concept, it varies and public opinion changes frequently. I’m a guy who lives for history and not for the next day.”
Furthermore, the judge states that the Supreme Court decides the most controversial issues in Brazilian society and that “to some extent it always displeases someone.”
“Interpreting the Constitution, with independence and moral courage, means displeasing sectors of society, politics or the economy. The judge must be well analyzed, otherwise he will suffer greatly from the different levels of rejection by groups in society”, he states.
Despite this, Barroso says the STF has tried to communicate with the company and better explain its decisions. It also states that, at no time, has the Supreme Court prevented a president from governing.
“It was a false narrative which, however, created animosity because authoritarian populism needs enemies. In democracy there is a place for liberals, progressives and conservatives, less so for those who do not accept democracy. I tried to convince the people that the Supreme Court is indispensable in democracy.”
Anger towards the STF, according to him, stems from a historical process of institutional disrespect and, also, from an artificially created animosity on social networks, a product of the actions of robots.
“There is a political motivation to mobilize the radical bases in the discourse against the Supreme Court,” he says.
Anti-democratic acts
Regarding the criticism that the STF has received regarding possible severe punishments for those involved in the January 8 attacks, Barroso said that Brazil has “a certain difficulty in punishing”.
“When these things happen, people have a very indignant reaction and want exacerbated punishment, but as time goes by, this reaction diminishes and people start to feel sorry,” he says.
He also defends a reaction from the judiciary through criminal law with the theory of “general prevention”, i.e. punishment to dissuade other people from carrying out similar behaviour. According to the minister, if the STF had been tolerant towards what happened, in the next elections the party that lost might feel authorized to do the same.
2023-12-31 02:15:00
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