See how long it took to appoint STF ministers – 11/20/2025 – Power

This Thursday (20), the president () announced the vacancy left in the (Supreme Federal Court) by the minister, who announced his retirement on October 9th.

Messias’ official appointment comes 42 days after the announcement of Barroso’s departure, who read his farewell letter during a plenary session of the Supreme Court. Until today, Lula’s quickest appointment had taken 3 days, and the longest, 63.

The survey carried out by Sheet takes into account the date on which the ministers publicly announced that they would leave the court and, in the case of compulsory retirement, the date on which they reached the maximum age to remain in the Supreme Court.

The count goes back to the days in which the appointments of successors were formalized and is restricted to the succession of ministers who remain at court.

In 2023, Lula took 63 days to choose Cristiano Zanin for the vacancy left by the current Minister of Justice, Ricardo Lewandowski. The briefest appointment was that of former minister Eros Grau, in 2004, which took place 3 days after the deadline for Maurício Corrêa’s compulsory retirement.

Taking into account all presidents since , the nomination period varied between one day — in the case of ministers’ nominations — and 320 days, the time it took the former president to announce the nomination of minister Edson Fachin, current president of the STF.

Fachin took over the vacancy left by former minister Joaquim Barbosa, who announced his retirement before the age limit. Barbosa’s decision was made public on May 29, 2014 and made official on July 31 of the same year.

Another appointment that took more than six months to be made official was that of the minister. He took over the position of Eros Grau, whose early retirement was announced in June 2010. The formalization would come on July 31 of the same year, 19 days before the minister reached the maximum age.

Fux would be made official as a nominee 245 days later, already under Dilma’s government, after the PT’s victory in the 2010 elections. The delay was an option made by Lula, who left the choice of name for the vacancy to his successor. The choice resulted in an imbroglio involving the then recently approved Clean Record Law, the judgment of which was tied until Fux’s appointment.

At the other end, there are cases announced in less than ten days, such as after the retirements of ministers Marco Aurélio Mello, Celso de Mello, Cezar Peluso, Maurício Corrêa, Ilmar Galvão and Néri da Silveira.

_{* Minister stayed up to the limit for compulsory retirement.
** Date of death.
*** Announcement made to Valor Econômico in June. The departure was postponed and only took place in August.}