Amid discussions about the implementation of a code of conduct in the (Supreme Federal Court), the minister denied that members of the court judge cases with which they have a personal relationship and said that public opinion “started to demonize lectures”.
Moraes also stated that the Federal Constitution and Loman (Organic Law of the National Judiciary) “are enough to regulate the judiciary”, a speech that was understood internally as a criticism of the guidelines defended by the president of the STF, Edson Fachin.
The statements were made during a session this Wednesday (4) in which an action was judged that questions rules for judges’ demonstrations on social media.
“If the Constitution didn’t solve it and Loman didn’t solve it, the Penal Code will solve it. It’s simple, just apply it”, said the minister at the session, when defending the CNJ resolution [Conselho Nacional de Justiça] which set parameters for the use of networks by judges.
The minister mentioned that, in public careers, the judiciary is the one with the most restrictions on extra activities. “The magistrate cannot do anything else in life, only teaching. He can give classes, give lectures. And as the magistrate can only give classes and lectures, they started to demonize the lectures. For lack of anything to criticize, soon the bad faith will affect those who teach at universities”, he said.
He also stated that the rules of impediment and suspicion are clear within the scope of the Supreme Court and that “the magistrate, from the judge of Aguaí [município de São Paulo] Even the STF is prevented from judging any case that has his relatives as parties or lawyers.” He also criticized the press.
This was the minister’s first public statement on the matter since the outbreak of the crisis in December, which put the court under pressure. The office of the minister’s wife, lawyer Viviane Barci, signed a contract worth R$3.6 million per month with the financial institution to represent her in court.
Also at the center of the crisis due to family businesses that associate their brothers with an investment fund linked to Master, the minister, rapporteur of the investigation into the financial institution, argued that judges can be partners in companies, as long as they are not directors.
“Several magistrates are farmers, business owners. And they, not exceeding the administration, have every right to their dividends,” he said in response to Moraes, who had made a similar point.
According to Moraes, Loman only prohibits judges from being managing partners. “If that weren’t the case, no magistrate could, for example, have an application in the bank, have shares in the bank. ‘Ah, he’s a shareholder in the bank, so he won’t be able to judge anyone in the financial system'”, he criticized.
Toffoli added: “He would have to donate his inheritance to some charity.”
Reporter of the investigation into Banco Master, Toffoli has had his conduct questioned since he traveled by jet with one of the lawyers in the case, imposed a severe regime of secrecy on the process and made a series of decisions that caused discomfort with the Federal Police.
When defending the CNJ resolution on the use of social networks for judges, signed during his tenure as president of the council and the Supreme Court, Toffoli said that they are norms “of self-limitation, of self-restraint”, which did not go beyond what was already provided for in the Constitution and Loman.
The stress on Toffoli and Moraes led the president of the Supreme Court, minister, to intensify the campaign for a code of conduct for ministers, appointing minister Cármen Lúcia as rapporteur. In Fachin’s expectations calculator, both Toffoli and Moraes are from the camp against setting the guidelines.
Despite this, both spoke out for the validity of the CNJ resolution, issued in 2019 fundamentally to avoid demonstrations of a partisan political nature by magistrates on the internet. Moraes, rapporteur of the action, voted on the case this Wednesday, while Toffoli made a brief comment, but has not yet made a formal statement.
So far, the rapporteur has been followed by ministers Kassio Nunes Marques, Cristiano Zanin and André Mendonça, as well as retired minister Rosa Weber, who left her position on record before leaving the court in 2023. For this reason, minister Flávio Dino, who replaced her, will not participate in the trial.
The president of the STF interrupted the trial so that it can be continued when minister Luiz Fux recovers from the pneumonia that affected him in recent days. In addition to Fux and Toffoli, minister Cármen Lúcia, minister Gilmar Mendes and Fachin himself remain to vote.
As shown by Sheetthe expectation was that the judgment on the rules for judges’ publications on social media would in fact be used by ministers to send, albeit indirectly, messages about the code of conduct.
The action against the CNJ resolution was chosen by Fachin as the first item on the 2026 agenda as a way of keeping the issue of public ethics alive in court. Other trials that touch on this topic are scheduled for March, such as cases that state prosecutors are discussing.
