Brazil’s Senate dealt a political blow to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Wednesday by rejecting his nomination to the Supreme Court, the first in more than 130 years and a sign that the veteran leader is not popular among many important lawmakers as he seeks reelection.
Only 34 senators voted in favor of Jorge Messias, who has been Brazil’s solicitor-general since 2023 and a close legal adviser to Lula, while another 42 rejected his appointment. Many of the latter, including presidential hopeful Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, celebrated in the chambers after the result.
Messias, who also worked for former president and Lula ally Dilma Rousseff, needed 41 votes to be approved.
“I am thankful to each vote I received. I think each of us fulfills a purpose and I fulfilled mine,” Messias told journalists in capital Brasilia after being rejected by the Senate. “That’s life. There’s days of victory, days of defeat. We have to accept it.”
The president of Brazil’s Senate, Davi Alcolumbre, openly advocated for another candidate before Lula picked Messias as his nominee. Brazilian media has reported for months that the senator was at odds with Lula for not choosing former senator Rodrigo Pacheco.
Creomar de Souza, a political analyst with Dharma Political Risk and Strategy, a political consultancy firm based in Brasilia, said Lula has struggled to work with the legislature since he returned to office, and the rebuke of Messias is the ultimate sign of that.
“This dispute around Messias involved putting him in a difficult position. The administration announced it was him and then it took long to properly nominate him. After that, the voting process did not include a real coordination,” de Souza said. “He was too exposed, there was not an efficient defense of him and the result couldn’t have been different.”
Lula, who is seeking reelection in October for his fourth inconsecutive term, picked Messias to replace Luís Roberto Barroso, who resigned in November. Since then, Brazil’s top court has operated with 10 members.
Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro told journalists that Messias’ rejection was also “an answer to what part of the Supreme Court was doing” in prosecuting lawmakers unduly. His father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, was sentenced by the same court to 27 years in prison for leading a coup attempt.
“I am not celebrating, but this is a win for the opposition,” the senator added. “Many senators will be elected in October based on whether voters think Supreme Court justices can be impeached.”
Earlier, 46-year-old Messias was approved by a Senate commission, but the full house disagreed in a secret vote. Messias was Lula’s third nominee to the top court during this term.
Besides Lula, other members of the court were openly campaigning for the solicitor-general, who also tried to garner votes from lawmakers of evangelical faith like him.
Supreme Court Justice André Mendonca, who was nominated by Jair Bolsonaro for his legal expertise and also his evangelical credentials, said in his social media channels that “Brazil has lost the opportunity” of having Messias as his colleague.
“He is a man of character, serious and who fulfills the constitutional requirements to be a Supreme Court justice,” Mendonca said. “Messias, leave this battle with your head up high. You fought a good fight.”
Brazil’s president will have to nominate another person, who will have to go through the same scrutiny before the Senate votes again.
The last time Brazil’s Senate rejected a Supreme Court nominee was in 1894, when the country’s second ever president, Floriano Peixoto, was at odds with lawmakers.
(AP)
