The Brazilian news outlet Poder360 reported on Thursday that the United States government’s decision to impose human rights sanctions on Alexandre de Moraes, a justice on the nation’s top court, has caused a visible rift at the Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF).
The outlet claimed that de Moraes pressured his peers to sign a letter defending him in the face of President Donald Trump and his administration condemning the justice’s years-long campaign to persecute and silence conservative voices in the country. The pressure allegedly failed, resulting not in a unanimous letter condemning the sanctions, but in a vague “institutional note” that did not mention the United States directly.
Poder360 also claimed that an attempt by socialist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to organize a dinner at the presidential palace for all STF justice as a display of solidarity for de Moraes proved to be of only limited usefulness, as only about half of the 11 justices on the court attended. The left-wing newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo confirmed that Lula invited all the STF justices, but only six of the 11, including de Moraes, attended.
De Moraes is arguably the most powerful public official in Brazil. During the term of conservative former President Jair Bolsonaro, the judge launched a national campaign against “fake news” using the blunt force of law enforcement to conduct violent raids against comedians, journalists, and other conservative online personalities known to support Bolsonaro. De Moraes also spearheaded the effort to imprison former lawmaker Daniel Silveira for publishing a video critical of the STF’s abuse of power.
More recently, de Moraes is leading the legal process against Bolsonaro, whom the socialist government has accused of organizing a coup and attempting to poison Lula after the 2022 presidential election. Bolsonaro himself has been the victim of aggressive police raids ordered by de Moraes’ court. In July, de Moraes imposed a long list of restrictions on Bolsonaro, including banning him from social media and forcing him to wear an ankle monitor, after President Trump sent Bolsonaro a letter expressing solidarity with him. De Moraes has since threatened to arrest Bolsonaro for appearing in, and thus being filmed, in public.
In response to his behavior on the top court, the State Department revoked de Moraes’ U.S. visa in July. The Treasury Department followed on Wednesday, imposing human rights sanctions on de Moraes via the Global Magnitsky Act for extreme violations of civil rights in Brazil. The Trump administration has also accused de Moraes of attempting to violate the human rights of Americans through attempted censorship campaigns to silence Brazilians and other conservatives on American-owned and -run social media outlets.
“Today, the United States is sanctioning Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes for serious human rights abuse, including arbitrary detention involving flagrant denials of fair trial guarantees and violations of the freedom of expression,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Wednesday.
“Alexandre de Moraes has taken it upon himself to be judge and jury in an unlawful witch hunt against U.S. and Brazilian citizens and companies,” Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in a separate statement. “De Moraes is responsible for an oppressive campaign of censorship, arbitrary detentions that violate human rights, and politicized prosecutions — including against former President Jair Bolsonaro.”
President Trump also issued an executive order declaring Brazil a national security threat to the United States, citing both Lula’s and de Moraes’ attempts to silence conservatives.
The new sanctions block de Moraes from using American banks and prevent American individuals or corporations from doing business with the justice.
De Moraes’s first documented response to the sanctions was a public appearance at a soccer game in which he raised a middle finger to the camera.
After this, Poder360 reported, the court, Lula, and the justice himself appeared to have attempted to plan a more organized and directed response. De Moraes allegedly attempted to circulate a letter in his defense to his STF peers, asking them to sign it, but “there was no consensus.”
“More than half of the 11 justices of the STF considered it inappropriate to have a document signed by all to respond to an internal action by the United States,” unnamed sources told Poder360. “This attitude from his colleagues was a disappointment for Moraes, who expected unanimity in his favor.”
The outlet further reported that the dinner at the presidential palace featuring Lula, six STF justices, and several other administration officials was allegedly meant to be an event to showcase Brazil’s united front before the American sanctions, but five of the 11 justices did not show up.
“Lula intended to produce a photo to demonstrate unity. He and the 11 justices of the Supreme Court would appear together, holding hands and defending the sovereignty of Brazil,” Poder360 claimed. No such photo was possible; instead, “Lula was able to clearly demonstrate a rift within the STF.”
De Moraes made his first appearance on a court bench since the sanctions on Friday. He used his opening statement to condemn Bolsonaro’s son, former Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, who has taken refuge in the United States and advocated for American action against de Moraes. De Moraes referred to “liars” and “traitors … on the run and hiding outside the territory of the nation.” De Moraes also insisted that the court would “ignore the sanctions.”
A conservative lawmaker, Nikolas Ferreira, announced on Thursday he is planning to file articles of impeachment against de Moraes. The attempt will be the 49th such impeachment motion against de Moraes, a record, according to the Brazilian outlet Jovem Pan.
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