The government’s manual for acquiring and maintaining extraordinary powers over the population is already well known. And he is the same all over the world.
First, politicians convince citizens that they are under serious threat from a new existential danger (communists, fascists, terrorists, etc.). The only way to protect against these threats, they insist, is to allow leaders to assume previously unimaginable powers.
If there are concerns about the risks of these powers, political leaders say: don’t worry, these measures are only “temporary.” But they rarely are.
In the weeks after the US attack, the Bush administration convinced Congress and the public to accept a radical law called the “Patriot Act.” This law granted the American government previously unthinkable powers of detention and surveillance.
But George W. Bush and his allies have reassured critics: there is nothing to worry about, these powers are only temporary, until the terrorist threat subsides. This law, characterized as temporary, was passed by Congress.
For the most part, it has been used far beyond its original purpose of combating terrorism. And now, 24 years later, it has become a normalized part of American political life that few question.
There is no doubt that, in Brazil, he granted himself extraordinary and radical powers. We know this because the STF itself has repeatedly recognized this.
In 2019 – a full five years ago – the court launched the “fake news inquiry” and granted a minister, practically unlimited powers to criminally investigate criticisms of the court (the majority of the STF characterizes criticisms as “attacks” on Brazilian democracy).
During the 2022 presidential elections, Moraes became the singular overseer of online political discourse, surpassing the powers of any authority in the democratic world. At the time, STF minister Cármen Lúcia approving these powers was an “extremely serious” measure, adding that it was necessary due to the “very exceptional situation” of the 2022 elections. But she guaranteed that Moraes’ powers were temporary and would only be valid “until October 31st”, automatically expiring “exactly one day after the second round”.
But Moraes simply used these supposedly temporary powers long after their expiration date and, in fact, never stopped using them. Meanwhile, the STF’s “temporary” fake news inquiry is now in its sixth full year, .
All of this led the New York Times to interview the president of the STF, in October. “It’s been two years since the election, and the court has maintained its expanded powers. Several senior government officials have told me they are concerned because these investigations have not yet ended. When will it end?”
Barroso responded: “I think soon. Almost everything that needed to be investigated has already been investigated… It is not reasonable to imagine that, by the end of this year or the beginning of next year, this can be closed.” The president made similar commitments in an interview with this newspaper in August.
The end of the year came and went. We are now at the “beginning of” 2025. Does anyone believe that the STF is even considering, let alone planning, to finally relinquish these radical powers in the hands of Moraes? On the contrary, this prospect seems increasingly unlikely, given that – as always with “temporary powers” – there are new supposed dangers, in the form of more evidence of an attempted coup, which, they will insist, require the STF to maintain these powers indefinitely.
People can – and do – debate whether the Supreme Court should have allowed itself to grant these powers of censorship and radical investigative authority. Regardless of everyone’s opinion, even the president of the court himself recognizes that this scheme must come to an end soon. Will this happen? And if so, when?
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