Articles for category: Brazil

Negationism’s ‘Day in Court’

Twice in less than a week’s time, the number of COVID-19 related deaths in Brazil per day raised above the mark of 4,000 cases. On 8 April 2021, the number of deaths reached its peak while Bolsonarism suffered two major defeats in the Federal Supreme Court. Bolsonarists lost both their claim to keep religious services during the pandemic and their attempt to block the opening of a parliamentary enquiry to hold Bolsonaro accountable for his executive underreach. Nonetheless, these defeats provided an opportunity to keep Bolsonaro’s antiestablishment and resentful rhetoric alive.

11. April 2021

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Lula’s Power is Brazil’s Arm

On 8 March 2021, Judge Edson Fachin from the Brazilian Supreme Court made a decision that frees former President Lula from all his convictions. This might decisively affect the course of the next presidential elections in Brazil, in 2022, as it puts former President Lula back in the presidential race. Perhaps even more importantly, its consequences might help in the fight against the Covid-19 crisis in Brazil.

12. März 2021

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Operation Car Wash on Trial

On 8 March 2021, the legal and political world was surprised by a judicial ruling of Justice Fachin, from the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court, which annulled three criminal cases against the former President Lula da Silva in the context of the so-called Operation Car Wash. In the following, we aim to recover some of the main arguments, positions and surrounding political scenario that involves Lula’s cases. The Federal Supreme Court seems to try to create a scenario for the reconstruction of the rule of law, which has been severely impaired in the past five years.

10. März 2021

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COVID-19 in Brazil: A Sick Constitutional Democracy

In the first half of January 2021, Brazil had already counted more than 200,000 deaths and 8 million people diagnosed with COVID-19. Throughout 2020, the responses from the federal government, which should have taken on a coordination role considering the federalised National Health Service (SUS, Sistema Único de Saúde), were confusing and inefficient. Doubts and scepticism spread by the federal executive undermined the work of governors and mayors and, mirroring the American example, contributed to increase the number of cases and casualties.

22. Februar 2021

Brazilian Democracy Under Military Tutelage

The relationship between the military and the civilian government is one that has defined the whole constitutional history of Brazil and could pave the way for a collapse of democracy. A few days ago, former Army General Villas Bôas revealed in an interview how the armed forces exercised pressure in 2018 against the Federal Supreme Court in the case of former President Lula. The threats made by General Villas Bôas demonstrate the fragility of the Brazilian democracy. Conflicts between the military and courts have been growing, and Bolsonaro has intensified the situation by increasingly involving military personnel in politics and making access to guns easier for the general public.

19. Februar 2021

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A Bolsonarist Cat Among the Pigeons

While the election of Kassio Nunes Marques in September 2020 was initially met with relief by some as he had no known links to the government, the new justice of Brazil’s Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) has since demonstrated his fidelity to the president that elected him. This could play a significant role in the future of Brazil given his likely being the deciding vote in an upcoming case on the existing conviction of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

30. Januar 2021

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The Brazilian Constitution Hanging by a Thread

In a December judgement, the Brazilian Supreme Court finally prohibited the re-election of the president of the House of Representatives, which had been practice for decades despite being in direct violation of the Brazilian constitution. In 2020, there has been unequivocal interest in the position of president of the House of Representatives as it holds the constitutional power to initiate an impeachment process, threatening president Bolsonaro. Although the Court ultimately declared the re-election unconstitutional, five dissenting votes of this judgment demonstrate the power of abusive judicial review.

6. Januar 2021

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Opposing an Idle Federal Government

Last week, the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court ruled that mandatory vaccination is constitutional and that states and municipalities may implement vaccination plans if the federal government does not do so. Deciding on five cases altogether, the court strengthened Brazilian federalism in the face of a federal government that remains largely inactive in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.

23. Dezember 2020

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No Need for a New Constitution in Brazil

In two recent articles, published in English and Portuguese, Professor Bruce Ackerman argued that the roots of Brazil’s political crisis, with the rise of extremist factions to power, is the 1988 Constitution and the presidential system it established. Under Ackerman’s account, the best response to such crisis would be to convene a new Constituent Assembly in 2023 in order to set up a parliamentary system, while also allowing the constituent delegates to “reconsider key decisions by the Assembly of 1988”. In this article, we intend to engage in this debate by explaining why the intent to promulgate a new Constitution might make things even worse.

31. Juli 2020

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