A code of conduct for the (Federal Supreme Court) is a step, but it does not solve the problem, says Diogo Melo, president of the IASP (São Paulo Lawyers Institute), in an interview with Sheet. “Structural changes are needed.”
Melo defends a new reform of the Judiciary and proposes interventions at the legislative level, including: adding transparency as a republican principle, creating an access filter for parties to propose actions and setting deadlines for individual decisions to be assessed by colleagues.
It’s all part of a study with a self-explanatory title developed over the course of a year by the institute with the support of the Brazilian Association of Jurimetry —”The Supreme in Perspective: Diagnosis of Dysfunctions”, to which the report had access.
The work points out defects in the court, such as the case of individual decisions that overlap with the idea of a collegiate court and judicial activism, which, at the suggestion of Miguel Reale, one of the authors of the text, they prefer to call creative jurisprudence.
The final version of the research must be delivered to the president of the STF, minister, next month. The launch of the book to the legal community is scheduled for February 25th.
“Today, with the Supreme Court facing this profound crisis of stabilization, of self-restraint, I believe that the reform should start with it. It is an ethical and moral recommendation to start doing the work from home, within the legal community itself.”
The completion of the work coincides with pressure on the STF to adopt a code of conduct. The idea gained strength after controversial decisions and revelations of links between ministers and relatives with the Master case.
On Monday (26), the -SP (Brazilian Bar Association of São Paulo) sent a letter to the STF with guidelines for greater transparency, restrictions on conflicts of interest and rules for quarantine after leaving office.
Both the president of the São Paulo section of the Order, Leonardo Sica, and the president of the IASP are also signatories of one that defends the creation of a code by the court.
According to Melo, acting in a non-transparent manner on specific cases, such as the Master’s, using secrecy or blocking supervision by society, is not an appropriate stance for a constitutional court.
The president of the IASP defends the OAB-SP initiative, but says that this is only part of the problem. “We have to go further, think structurally. If a Power does not comply with a constitutional precept of transparency, wouldn’t we have more serious consequences?”
“The need is not just to reform A or B. We cannot convey the feeling that a code of conduct will solve all problems”, he says.
Melo also echoes a warning from the President of the Supreme Court in: “If he [o Supremo] continue acting this way, on this point I have to agree with Minister Fachin, the reforms could be more drastic, and this could generate even greater instability”.
