Decisions involving the elections opened a new point of friction between ministers of the (Supreme Federal Court). A group of court magistrates is preparing to act as a type of review body for decisions of the (Superior Electoral Court) and face the management of .
The conflict was exposed this Friday (12), when the First Panel of the Supreme Court and the TSE plenary began to judge simultaneously, in their respective virtual plenary sessions, a case involving the . The discussion revolves around the deadline for candidates to leave public office to contest the election, scheduled for next Sunday (21) in that state.
After a decision, in the STF, determining that the non-compatibilization occurred three to six months before the election, and not the 24 hours foreseen in a resolution by the TRE (Regional Electoral Court) of Roraima, Kassio wanted to make a statement and also guided the discussion in the TSE. The two ministers have divergent positions on the issue.
Dino obtained a majority in the group, accompanied by the ministers and (the panel has only four members, with the minister’s position missing). Kassio also achieved a majority in the TSE, with the votes of , and Antônio Carlos Ferreira, but there was a request for a review from minister Estela Aranha.
Kassio’s interlocutors claim that the minister wants to defend the role of and the jurisprudence of the TSE itself, which points to the possibility of more flexible deadlines in supplementary elections. In his vote, the president of the electoral court stated that Dino’s injunction cites precedents that do not apply to the case of Roraima.
Last week, members of the STF also told Kassio that the court would overturn his decision that he pointed out from (-RJ), after dialogues between the senator and the businessman, owner of the . The president of the TSE told allies that he already had this on his radar, but that the possibility of reaching an agreement could be beneficial so that the crisis does not escalate.
According to reports made to SheetKassio has complained to parliamentarians about the fear that a wing of the Supreme Court will take electoral issues upon itself in an attempt to empty its responsibilities in command of the TSE. This group, on the other hand, states that the STF has the prerogative to act if there is evidence of violation of any constitutional issue.
One of the biggest points of conflict may be the removal of content on social media during the campaign. Former president of the TSE, Moraes took a strict stance in 2022 in relation to platforms, under threat of high fines and tight deadlines for removing publications. Kassio has already signaled that he will act more restrained in these situations.
Another case that illustrates the conflict between the Supreme Court and TSE on electoral issues is that of the former governor of Rio de Janeiro (PL), who resigned from his position in March on the eve of being due to abuse of power. STF ministers criticized the inconsistency between what was debated by the electoral court and the ruling (summary) of the trial.
Clarification on the revocation is considered technically crucial for the STF to decide whether they should be direct, with a popular vote, or indirect, in which the deliberation rests with the Legislative Assembly. The trial of the case, reported by Zanin, is suspended due to a request for review.
Two ministers from the opposite wing to Kassio’s in the Supreme Court have recalled, in private conversations, that in 2022 he himself gave monocratic (individual) decisions to those imposed by the TSE, in the case of the then deputies Valdevan Noventa and Fernando Francischini. The injunctions ended up being reversed by the Second Panel.
In general, the Supreme Court’s stance is one of deference to TSE decisions involving the impeachment of politicians, especially those that are taken unanimously. In 2023, for example, the STF upheld the conviction of the former federal deputy and former prosecutor.
Actions filed in the Supreme Court against electoral resolutions also do not usually prosper. The court validated, for example, the rule of Moraes’ administration that, on the eve of the 2022 second round, increased the powers of the electoral court over content published on the internet.
A more interfering approach, therefore, would be a “change in tradition”, as classified by a member of the TSE’s legal area.
Defenders of continuing the fake news investigation, Moraes and the minister expressed concern to people close to them about a potentially less rigorous stance by the TSE in relation to combating disinformation and signaled that the Supreme Court could act on this issue if any omission was identified.
In his inauguration speech, Kassio said that the electoral court has a duty to combat concrete threats to the democratic process, especially with the challenges of using artificial intelligence, but warned that the TSE cannot “incur”.
