The new rules of the (Federal Supreme Court) for the distribution of legal cases determined this week by the president of the court, minister, have increased friction between magistrates and are the most recent chapter in the court’s internal division.
In an order signed this Monday (11), Fachin established that petitions made in cases already archived must be validated by the presidency of the STF before being sent to the office of the reporting minister. The decision was understood as a message to , which reacted and demanded from Fachin fewer interruptions to high-impact trials.
In February, Gilmar gave a decision to the minister’s family company, as part of a procedure that had been shelved for three years. The president of the STF wanted to prevent this situation from happening again, as he understands that this type of controversy further wears down the court amid the repercussions of the Master case.
The new guidelines, as well as the , are part of a package of measures adopted by him for the court. For Gilmar’s group, however, this is yet another attitude by the president of the STF to demonstrate to society that he defends an ethical agenda, but at the cost of exposing colleagues and disuniting the court.
The assessment is that, at a sensitive, vulnerable and tense moment, Fachin could have submitted this topic to a collegiate debate. Aides to the president of the Supreme Court claim, on the other hand, that he spoke with colleagues before publishing the decision.
As an immediate reaction, Fachin was accused by Gilmar of the number of times he paralyzed, through requests for highlights from the virtual plenary, judgments of relevance to society, such as that of mineral exploration in indigenous lands.
The judge told the president of the STF, through a WhatsApp message, that these obstacles have been the hallmark of his administration, even comparing them to the obstruction tactic practiced by the North American and known as . Fachin did not respond.
when Gilmar suspended Maridt’s breach of confidentiality by the CPI, a wing of ministers aligned with Fachin criticized him in behind-the-scenes conversations.
This group assessed that there was a violation of the principle of natural justice. It is as if Toffoli’s family company had circumvented the STF’s lottery system and chosen the judge who would analyze his request, to have a better chance of a favorable result.
At the time, the dean explained that the themes were similar: parliamentary commissions of inquiry approving requests disconnected from the object of the investigation, a practice that the minister .
In the case of Covid’s CPI, which investigated the impact of misinformation on deaths caused by Covid-19, Gilmar restricted the scope of breaches of confidentiality by the production company Brasil Paralelo. The measures had been approved without a time limit.
Regarding the CPI on Crime, the dean said that Maridt’s breach of confidentiality occurred “in clear and unavoidable non-compliance with the limits” of the parliamentary investigation, which aimed to investigate the advance of criminal factions in Brazil.
Gilmar also told interlocutors that, if the request arrived at his office in the records of an archived case, it was by act of the Supreme Judicial Secretariat, and that he could not avoid examining it — this is the so-called “principle of indeterminacy of jurisdiction”.
This week, however, Fachin said it was necessary to prevent “possible new questions regarding distribution”. In his decision, he cites the court’s resolution aimed at “improving the security, transparency and randomness of the system.”
The senator (MDB-SE), rapporteur for the CPI on Crime, said on social media that Fachin “recognized (very nicely) that Gilmar Mendes’ actions in the Maridt case (the Toffoli family fund) did not follow the procedural rules”, ordering the prohibition of “new similar juggling acts”.
Vieira de Gilmar, Toffoli and the minister in the CPI’s final report, but the document is finished. THE Sheet showed that it is a distortion of the purpose of the parliamentary investigation.
