In the midst of the (Federal Supreme Court) and the (National Council of Justice) and operations that investigate the sale of sentences, the Judiciary leadership began to propose new mechanisms to prevent power and encouraged a discussion about the application of harsher sanctions to magistrates who use their position for self-interest.
On the 29th, the minister was sworn in as president of both bodies and decided, among his first measures, to create a body that will work to identify and prevent risks of corruption and conflicts of interest within the Judiciary.
A few days earlier, the CNJ inspector, minister Mauro Campbell, defended at an Iasp (São Paulo Lawyers Institute) event the extinction of the mandatory retirement punishment for magistrates involved in crimes.
“We need to change the wrong label of this punishment. It doesn’t sound like a punishment for you to compulsorily retire someone who tarnished the judiciary, but rather like a benefit,” he told the Migalhas website, after the event.
“What needs to be changed is the logic: the judge has the right to retire according to normal criteria, according to the length of his contribution, but not due to a disciplinary sanction.”
The matter began to be discussed between the CNJ and deputy Pedro Paulo (PSD-RJ), rapporteur for administrative reform in the Chamber. Campbell suggests that there be a model similar to the Federal one, with dismissal.
In these cases, even if punished, the member of the body is entitled to what he contributed, but does not benefit from early retirement after having committed irregularities.
The initiatives take place during a period in which the Judiciary has been devastated by police operations.
The largest, Sisamnes, supervised by the STF minister, targets suspicions related to, and investigates sales and leaks of votes and decisions. For now, no minister is being investigated, only cabinet employees.
At the same time, state court judges are also being investigated or already subject to criminal action, both at Sisamnes and in other operations. This happens in the courts of Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Tocantins, São Paulo, Maranhão and Bahia, for example.
Fachin’s predecessor as president of the Supreme Court and the CNJ, the minister took administrative action against judges, but did not take measures to increase the severity of punishment or prevention.
The minister, who is closer than Fachin to the associations that represent magistrates, then defended the class at times when judges were questioned both for their conduct and for other issues, such as the issue of frills that inflate their salaries.
In a conversation with journalists shortly before leaving the presidency of the Supreme Court, Barroso said that the Court effectively punished misconduct by judges and that the operations that are currently taking place are a “sign that the Judiciary is working”.
When asked about compulsory retirement, he said that “it is not illegitimate, even when it may be undesirable.”
Fachin’s speech at the STF inauguration ceremony, on the 29th, already set a different tone. He said that the “response to corruption must be firm and institutional” and that “no one is above institutions, whether judges, parliamentarians or public managers”.
Within the scope of the CNJ, the so-called National Observatory of Integrity and Transparency of the Judiciary was created by ordinance, whose intention is to create early warning mechanisms to avoid problems such as corruption, conflicts of interest and, also, “institutional capture and other threats to the independence and impartiality of Justice”.
The idea is for the Judiciary itself to be proactive to avoid crises like those that have occurred in recent years.
The observatory includes other objectives, mainly related to transparency. Among them are the consolidation of data and monitoring panels and cooperation between justice-related bodies on methodologies, good practices and comparative results.
How, Fachin’s rise to the Supreme Court is in line with that of the presidents of the higher courts, with a profile of discretion and averse to the political circles of Brasília.
Currently, the other courts are commanded by (), (), (TST) and (STM).
At the TST, Vieira de Mello organized a vote that made the court decide, unanimously, to cancel the contract for the construction of a parade of its 27 ministers.
According to the court, the decision was made because there was no longer “a need to use the space, as well as the possibility of canceling the signed contract, without prejudice to the administration”.
