Brazil Supreme Court feud hits election campaign

A clash between Brazilian Supreme Court justices Alexandre de Moraes and Andre Mendonca has deepened a crisis at the country’s highest court weeks before October presidential elections.

The dispute was triggered by a probe linked to a major fraud scandal and has affected the campaign between President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro. The two justices are due to be in focus during a Supreme Court plenary session on Tuesday, which will be broadcast live.

The hostilities began two weeks ago when Mendonca unsealed a police report showing messages sent by jailed banker Daniel Vorcaro to a number attributed to Moraes. The messages sought Moraes’s help as Vorcaro faced a fraud investigation. Moraes accused Mendonca of abusing his authority.

Moraes has long been a central figure in legal and political disputes involving the Bolsonaro family. He led the trial that resulted in Jair Bolsonaro receiving a 27-year prison sentence for his role in an attempted coup, and in 2023, while serving as president of Brazil’s electoral court, barred Bolsonaro from public office for abuse of power and misuse of the media.

Mendonca, a Presbyterian pastor and former justice minister under Jair Bolsonaro, was nominated to the Supreme Court by Bolsonaro in 2021. Michelle Bolsonaro defended him in an Instagram post during the current dispute, saying he was “chosen and anointed by the Lord!”