After recent clashes with politicians, the ministers of the (Supreme Federal Court) came out in defense of the court this Tuesday (28) and criticized parliamentarians who, in their opinion, have attacked the court to get votes.
According to Moraes, politicians use the Supreme Court as an “electoral ladder” to get votes. Dino argued that the Judiciary must act against criticism aimed at the court.
The magistrates made statements during the trial in the First Panel that rejected a complaint by Gustavo Gayer (-GO) against his colleague José Nelto (União-GO) for the crimes of insult and slander.
The PL congressman sued the Supreme Court after Nelto called him a “Nazi”, “fascist” and “idiot” during an episode of the Papo de Garagem podcast, in 2023.
When voting for rejection, Moraes stated that parliamentarians use programs of this type to offend each other, while each one echoes these clashes on their social networks. They themselves would use reciprocal insults as a form of electoral campaign.
According to the minister, the same strategy has been applied against the court and STF ministers. “There are politicians who, because they don’t have enough votes to make their candidacies viable, end up trying to offend the Judiciary, using it as an electoral ladder,” he said.
“They want to take advantage of a supposed polarization against the Supreme Court, not through criticism, but through verbal attacks that, in any other environment, would be considered moral harassment. And, with that, I say again: they want likes, but they seem to believe that the voter is not aware of it. The worst thing is not to offend the institution or the ministers; it is to offend the intelligence of the electorate”, added Moraes.
Dino, who voted to accept Gayer’s complaint only for the crime of slander, stated that criticism of the Supreme Court is “institutional cowardice”.
“It is not up to us to enter this field. I hope that the political market itself can self-regulate, but until this happens and this free debate of ideas turns into this type of degeneration, I believe that judicial protection is the only mechanism that can contain the law of the strongest”, he stated.
