Brazilian Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) Minister Alexandre de Moraes requested over the weekend that Brazil’s Attorney General evaluate seizing Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro’s passport for allegedly committing “crimes against sovereignty” and criticizing the STF alongside U.S. lawmakers, local outlets reported.
If the request is approved and enacted, Eduardo Bolsonaro would be trapped in Brazil in a similar manner to that of his father, conservative former President Jair Bolsonaro.
De Moraes’ request, which the Attorney General has not publicly responded to at press time, followed calls last week by Lindbergh Farias and Rogério Correia, lawmakers from the ruling leftists Workers’ Party (PT), to investigate Bolsonaro. Both leftist lawmakers accused Eduardo Bolsonaro of allegedly conspiring with U.S. congressmen against the Brazilian judiciary after the House Judiciary Committee passed the “No Censors on our Shores Act.” The bill, promoted by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), aims to codify into law provisions to bar or deport foreign government officials from the United States if they engage in official acts that violate the First Amendment rights of Americans.
The two leftist lawmakers reportedly claimed that Eduardo Bolsonaro traveled to the United States several times over the past month to meet with Republican politicians with the goal of convincing them to act against the Brazilian top court. Farias and Correia urged that Bolsonaro’s passport be seized to stop the purported “ongoing illegal conduct” of the lawmaker.
“The fact is that the immoral and reprehensible practice of the represented deputy is a real attempt to embarrass not only a member of one of the branches of the Republic, but the national judiciary itself which will, if necessary, hear the criminal cases involving the respondent’s father and his coup-plotting entourage,” Farias said.
De Moraes – a self-styled “anti-fake news crusader” known for his extensive, years-long track record of censorship actions against Brazilian conservatives and U.S. social media platforms – was mentioned by Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) as an example of foreign officials engaging in censorship against American citizens.
“Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes is the vanguard of an international assault on freedom of speech against American citizens like Elon Musk,” Rep. Salazar said. “Freedom of speech is a natural and inalienable right which knows no borders. The enforcers of censorship are not welcome in the land of the free, the United States.”
Congressman Bolsonaro criticized De Moraes during a visit to the United States just weeks ago, alleging in a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that the unelected official was trying to rig upcoming elections.
Eduardo Bolsonaro denounced de Moraes’ request on Saturday, claiming the Brazilian justice wants to seize his passport because his “denunciations in the US of Brazil’s censorship and persecution against the opposition are true and gaining traction.”
“If their actions were legitimate, they wouldn’t panic at scrutiny. But they know: what we have in Brazil today is not justice, it’s persecution, it’s authoritarianism; it’s tirany [sic]. And history is clear: tyrants always fall,” Eduardo Bolsonaro said.
Former President Jair Bolsonaro on Sunday asserted that the possible seizure of his son’s passport aims to “create embarrassment or to instruct legal action” to prevent him from occupying the chairmanship of the Brazilian Congress’ Foreign Relations Committee.
The former president claimed that the committee will address the 37 agreements that Brazil signed with China during the 2024 G20 Summit, hosted by Brazil in November — which Bolsonaro described as “a good time to discuss sovereignty and crimes against the country.”
In February 2024, de Moraes ordered local police to seize Jair Bolsonaro’s passport amid a probe stemming from accusations that Bolsonaro plotted to stage a “coup” following his narrow loss in the 2022 election against radical leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. One year later, in February 2025, Brazil’s Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet filed criminal charges against Bolsonaro on accusations of allegedly plotting to poison Lula.
The travel ban imposed on Bolsonaro prevented the former president from attending President Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20. Bolsonaro requested to de Moraes that his passport be temporarily returned to attend Trump’s inauguration, but de Moraes denied the request and its subsequent appeal under grounds that the former president had offered “indications” that he may try to flee the country and claim political asylum.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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