Amid the strain suffered by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) with the revelation of connections between magistrates and the Banco Master scandal and after recent clashes with the Legislature, the President of the Court, Edson Fachin, and Minister Cármen Lúcia recognized on Friday (17) that the Judiciary is going through a crisis of confidence among Brazilians. Both are defenders of the creation of a code of conduct for members of the STF, a proposal that faces internal resistance.
Fachin said that the Judiciary is going through a crisis that “needs to be faced”, under penalty of repeating “old solutions”, but he also came out in defense of the Court by once again taking a stance against the report of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) on Organized Crime, which suggested the indictment of members of the court and ended up defeated in Congress.
— When we talk about crises, it is essential to recognize that we are effectively immersed (in a crisis) in relation to the performance of the Judiciary, a crisis that needs to be faced. And faced with eyes to see and ears to hear, under penalty of repeating, for new problems, old solutions, which simply mean relegating problems without solving them — argued the president of the STF, during a lecture at Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) in São Paulo.
Datafolha research, released this week, showed that 75% of Brazilians say that STF ministers have too much power, although 71% consider the Court essential for the protection of democracy. Furthermore, 55% were aware of the suspected connection of members of the STF with the Master case and believe that they were involved in the episode. Last month, the same institute pointed out that the rate of Brazilians who do not trust the Supreme Court reached a record high, reaching 43%. The percentage of those who claimed to “trust a lot” fell from 24% to 16%.
‘Errors and mistakes’
In the lecture, Fachin also stated that the “immense majority of the Brazilian Judiciary, 18 thousand judges” can “face this order of ideas”, and cited other countries that deal with similar situations of questioning the actions of judges. Fachin mentioned the judicial reform approved by Mexico, which since last year began to elect members of the Judiciary by popular vote. The president of the STF has defended the approval of a code of conduct, along the lines of that adopted in Germany, that establishes limits to preserve independence and impartiality.
Cármen Lúcia was chosen to report on the project. In a lecture given on Friday at FGV Direito Rio, the minister emphasized that the drop in confidence is “serious” and considered that, despite there being “errors and mistakes” that need to be improved, the instance remains fundamental to guaranteeing the rights provided for in the Constitution.
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— We need the Judiciary. Even though it is, like everything in the human experience, limited by the imperfection that is characteristic of humanity. It needs to be better each time, so that the Law is applied and citizens have more confidence. The reliability crisis in the Judiciary is serious, serious and needs to be recognized — said Cármen.
At the same time that he recognized society’s reservations about the Court, Cármen indicated that there is an “international movement”, without mentioning which one, to delegitimize the Brazilian Judiciary. Over the past year, members of the STF have been targeted by United States sanctions amid tariffs imposed by American President Donald Trump.
— We have a reliability problem in Brazil, especially in the Supreme Court, I am aware of this. It is also necessary to know what mistakes and errors there are that need to be improved. But there is an international movement, as we know, so that we do not have the Judiciary — he said.
‘Different perceptions’
In a conversation with journalists after the lecture on Friday, Fachin once again criticized the decision of the Organized Crime CPI in the Senate to request the indictment of ministers Alexandre de Moraes, Dias Toffoli and Gilmar Mendes. In Fachin’s view, there are “distinct perceptions” and no “institutional crisis” between the Judiciary and Legislature. He recognized the role of Congress in supervising “all institutions”, but disagreed with the opinion of Alessandro Vieira (MDB-SE).
— There is no institutional crisis between the Judiciary and the Legislature. There are different understandings about a certain phenomenon, for example, what is the scope of a certain CPI — he pointed out. — I argue that, when you do not agree with a given decision, the appropriate path is to appeal, and not to attack the institutionality itself. The work that was done in the Federal Senate, therefore, also involves submission to public scrutiny and debate.
At the beginning of the week, Fachin released a statement repudiating the request for indictment, but his reaction was seen as “timid” by members of the Court, which increased the dissatisfaction of a section of ministers about the defense being made by the court. Still during the lecture, the minister stated that the country is experiencing “times of institutional distrust and intense polarization” and that the Judiciary needs to speak “through the strength of its arguments, through transparency and through fidelity to the Constitution” to ensure that it continues to have the confidence of the population.
