The minister, of the (Supreme Federal Court), took advantage of the beginning of his vote in the trial on the core of the disinformation of the coup plot to explain his analysis of the hundreds of cases about the attacks.
Fux said he was convinced of his change after judging several complaints based on a sense of urgency. “Judicial humility is a virtue that, even when late, saves the law from petrification and prevents justice from becoming an accomplice to injustice”, he stated.
The minister spent almost ten minutes explaining his position. The statement was made a week after Fux got involved in a discussion with minister Gilmar Mendes about his position in the trial of the central nucleus of the coup plot, of which former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) is a defendant.
“Sometimes, in moments of national commotion, the lenses of justice are clouded by the symbolic weight of the events and the urgency to offer a quick response that contains political and social instability. At these times, precipitation is disguised as prudence and rigor is confused with firmness”, he said.
Fux argued that time, “this silent and relentless habit, has the gift of dispelling the mists of passion, revealing the most intimate contours of the truth and exposing the points that, although driven by the best intentions, resulted in injustice”.
“Wisdom should not be rejected simply because it arrives late. Over time, it matures in us a sense of humanity and the courage to re-examine our own verdicts.”
The minister said that he needed to review his opinions on the coup plot because the “suffering of those awaiting justice must not be in vain” and added that the judge must consider, above all, Justice and the dignity of the human person.
“It is this humble and sensitive retrospective look at the same time that enhances the Judiciary as an institution of the Republic. It is not immobility that sustains its moral authority, but the ability to repair errors and reconcile society”, he added.
Fux also compared his change of position with the attacks on the headquarters of the Powers, when the glass walls of the Supreme Court were destroyed by radical Bolsonarists who called for a coup d’état.
The minister stated that the foundations of the Supreme Court are not in the marble that supports its walls, but in the “invisible mortar” of constitutional responsibility. “If one day I lacked the discernment to distinguish the innocent from the guilty or if I renounced the guarantee to each accused the minimum safeguards of the Constitution, the entire symbolic building that supports the court would collapse, even if its walls remained standing”, he added.
He said that a judge cannot be tied to the labels that are placed, such as punitive or guarantor, and that he must follow due legal process.
“This is the courage that I invoke when recognizing that my previous understanding —we have judged many cases—, although supported by the logic of urgency, incurred injustices that time and conscience no longer allowed me to sustain. My realignment does not mean weakness of purpose, but firmness in defending the Rule of Law.”
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