The delay of the president (PT) in for vacancies of ministers in the (Superior Court of Justice) can cause a historical impasse in the Court.
The reason is that a member of, Marisa Santos, will turn 70 on June 8 this year and could not be sworn in as a minister after that date.
Given the possibility of inaction from the head of the executive, STJ ministers are divided between those who are bothered by Lula’s slowness to make the decision and those who are already articulating with the perspective – in uncertain – to elaborate a new list with other names of their preferences.
According to the Constitution, there is no way for the President of the Republic to appoint to STJ Minister who is under 35 and over 70.
After the president chooses the nominee, from the list voted by the STJ itself, the name should also pass through sabbath and be approved by.
If Lula chooses Marisa in the coming days, the Senate would have to hurry to sabbath and approve her name, and she would have to be named and sworn in before the 8th of next month – a possibility seen as very difficult.
The president would be left to choose in about 30 days another of the members on the list or wait until she is reduced to only two names, from June 8th.
This situation would be unprecedented, according to STJ ministers, and part of the court members consulted by Sheet Already think that if this happens, the president could return the list to court to become triple again.
Some of the ministers think the list would have to be voted once again, completely. Another portion points out that, perhaps, it is the case of vote only a third name to replace Marisa’s.
There are also those who understand that the Constitution does not allow the possibility of a new vote and that Lula would have to decide between the two remaining candidates.
Marisa, who is from TRF-3 (based in São Paulo), competes with Carlos Pires Brandão and Daniele Maranhão, from TRF-1 (Brasilia). Sought by the report, Marisa Santos said she would not comment.
The possibility of a name becoming unfeasible for Lula’s delay in making the choice has created discomfort among STJ ministers.
The situation was criticized by three court members to the report. One of them reservedly says that if this occurs for the first time in STJ history will be a humiliation for the candidate and a very negative message from the president sent to women.
Another part of the STJ sees an articulation between magistrates so that there is a new vote that includes magistrates considered favorites that were left out of the triple list, especially Ney Bello, from TRF-1, or Rogério Favreto, from TRF-4 (based in Porto Alegre).
The second most important court in the country has 33 seats, and two of them were vacant with the retirement of ministers Laurita Vaz, in October 2023, and Argate Magalhães in January last year.
It is the STJ ministers themselves who vote for the courts for the Court’s vacancies, which are reserved, in a reserved manner, for lawyers, members of the prosecutor, federal or state magistrates.
After the retirement of the two ministers, the STJ itself was responsible for elaborating two lists of three names and sending them to the President of the Republic, but, amid internal disputes, only did it last October.
One of the reasons pointed out by court members for the delay is related to a comb that analyzed the lives of candidates, including any police investigations who have already weighed on them.
In addition to the list of TRF members, a second list was formed, made up of prosecutors. In it are the prosecutor Sammy Barbosa, from the Public Prosecutor of Acre, the prosecutor Marluce Caldas, from the Public Prosecutor of Alagoas, and the Deputy Attorney General of the Republic Carlos Frederico Santos, from the Federal Public Prosecutor.
STJ ministers of various wings and federal government members claim that Lula was slow to make the choice because the list of judges displeased the President of the Republic because he expected the name of Rogério Favreto to be in it.
During a duty in 2018, which was at the time stuck in Curitiba. The measure was eventually overturned by the then president of TRF-4, a court that judged the appeals of Operation Lava Jato.
Already in the vacancy of the Public Prosecution Service, the favorite is Marluce Caldas, who is aunt of the mayor of Maceió, João Henrique Caldas (PL), JHC. Despite being from Jair Bolsonaro’s party, the mayor has been trying to approach the base of the current president.
