Five Brazilian senators from conservative former President Jair Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party began impeachment proceedings on Tuesday against Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes, whom the administration of President Donald Trump recently sanctioned for human rights abuses.
The senators are demanding impeachment on accusations of abuse of authority, administrative impropriety, censorship, and violation of constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression and parliamentary immunity.
Brazilian outlets reported that 39 of Brazil’s 81 Senators have pledged to support the impeachment of de Moraes as of Tuesday evening. A group of 23 senators from the ruling Worker’s Party (PT) and other leftist parties are opposing the motion publicly and a crucial third group of 21 senators has yet to publicly comment on the matter.
At least 41 votes are required to start the process and a two-thirds majority, which translates to 54 of 81 votes, is required to successfully impeach the controversial justice.
The request, led by PL Congressman Hélio Lopes, reportedly marks the 30th impeachment process against de Moraes in recent years by either senators, congressmen, or Brazilian citizens. According to CNN Brasil, 22 impeachment attempts were filed against de Moraes between 2021 and 2024, and eight more in 2025, including Tuesday’s.
Lopes’s impeachment request reportedly cites the human rights sanctions recently imposed by the United States against de Moraes under the Global Magnitsky Act in response to the justice’s persecution and widespread censorship of conservative voices in Brazil — most notably, the “witch hunt” against former President Jair Bolsonaro. The lawmakers reasoned that the U.S. sanctions show the justice “has lost moral and legal legitimacy.”
The impeachment request also cites an incident that took place in July when Lopes attempted to set up a peaceful protest camp at the Plaza of the Three Powers in Brasília, where Congress, the Supreme Court, and the presidential palace are located. Lopes reportedly intended to hold a “silent strike” in support of former President Bolsonaro and PL’s amnesty proposal for the hundreds of Brazilian men and women imprisoned for their participation in the January 8, 2023, protests against radical leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
CNN Brasil reported that de Moraes granted a request from the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) on the same day the peaceful protest was scheduled to take place and ordered the immediate removal of the camp, prohibited further protests in the area, and authorized the arrest of those involved should they offer resistance.
De Moraes justified his ruling by noting that the January 8 riot was preceded by peaceful protest camps. The justice and leftists throughout Brazil claim the riot, which left significant property damage but no deaths and few injuries, was an attempted coup.
Lopes and the four other PL lawmakers who accompanied his request described de Moraes’ prohibition of the peaceful protest as a “direct violation of constitutional rights of freedom of expression,” and added that the planned demonstration would be peaceful and symbolic, without any incitement to violence or threat to public order.
The new impeachment request against de Moraes comes hours after the sanctioned justice ordered local police to place former President Bolsonaro under house arrest for allegedly violating the terms of a series of draconian “precautionary measures” he imposed on Bolsonaro in July.
According to de Moraes, Bolsonaro “violated” a social media ban after his sons published photos and videos of Bolsonaro in his home on Sunday, during a series of peaceful anti-Lula and anti-de Moraes protests across 62 cities in Brazil. Prior to the house arrest, de Moraes imposed a strict curfew on Bolsonaro that forbade him from leaving his home on weekends.
As per the terms of his house arrest, police seized all of Bolsonaro’s mobile devices and barred him from using a phone, even one belonging to someone else. De Moraes heavily restricted any visits and the few permitted visitors are banned from recording Bolsonaro or taking photos with him. Following widespread outrage, de Moraes “eased” the visit restrictions on Wednesday morning, allowing Bolsonaro’s sons, grandchildren, and sisters-in-law to visit him without the need for court authorization. Other visit requests, such as those from Bolsonaro’s allies, must be submitted to the Brazilian top court and reviewed by de Moraes personally.
According to the Brazilian outlet Metrópoles, local police officials are presently examining the contents of Bolsonaro’s seized cellphone to determine whether or not the former president “coordinated” with his son, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, to publish the now-deleted footage of him on his social media accounts. Depending on the results of the investigation, the outlet detailed, Sen. Bolsonaro “may be charged with attempting to obstruct the investigation” into his father.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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