The president of the (Supreme Federal Court), made a nod during a tribute this Thursday (28) to the dean’s 24 years at the court and praised the magistrate’s “permanent willingness to debate ideas”.
“After more than two decades, it is possible to affirm that his excellence not only joined the Federal Supreme Court. He became one of its most permanent and recognized institutional references”, said Fachin in a speech to open the plenary session.
The oldest member of the Supreme Court, Gilmar has been critical of Fachin’s management and the “timing” of the president’s proposal to create a code of conduct for ministers, amid attacks on the STF resulting from the crisis.
Last week, the president of the court implemented a study group to debate a broad reform of the Judiciary. Jurists close to Gilmar were chosen as components — which together with and also deepen the differences with Fachin.
According to Fachin, during his more than two decades at the court, Gilmar Mendes was the protagonist of many cases amid the court’s transformations and is not “afraid of the complexity of contemporary challenges.”
“There is, in his career, a characteristic that deserves particular note: his permanent willingness to debate ideas”, said Edson Fachin. “His presence in the public debate expanded the understanding of the importance of constitutional institutions for democratic stability”, he added.
Gilmar was nominated to the court in 2002 by then president FHC (Fernando Henrique Cardoso), of the PSDB. He will complete 24 years at the STF on the 20th.
Moved, Gilmar Mendes thanked Fachin for his “kind and cordial” words and stated that holding the position of minister is never a monotonous activity. “We always have challenges,” he declared.
“It’s been 24 years, almost a quarter of a century. Many things have happened and I arrived here. I thought I would stay, minister Cármen [Lúcia]12 years, because it was perhaps the paradigm of the mandate of the German Constitutional Court. Now there are 24. There are already two terms”, he said, laughing.
“I was changing my conceptions and talking to people and they said: ‘No, maybe you shouldn’t leave now’. These dialogues with the contexts meant that I ended up reaching that mark, although, I must say, I no longer wanted to.”
The minister ended his speech by reporting a phrase he heard from former president of Uruguay Julio María Sanguinetti during a meeting at the home of former president José Sarney: “Perhaps his actions would have been more relevant because of what he had prevented from being done than what he had actually done.”
The Attorney General of the Republic, Gilmar’s former partner at IDP (Brazilian Institute of Education, Development and Research), also paid tribute to the dean during the session. He said it was a joy “to be sitting so close to this friend of four decades.”
“We were fortunate to have him at the Prosecutor’s Office in such difficult and dramatic moments”, replied Gilmar, thanking him.
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