Anyone who was a child at any time since the 1970s has surely played at least one Super Trunfo game. It’s a themed card contest, and one card with the game’s name is able to beat almost all the others. That’s right: even a Super Trump cannot eliminate all other cards, as cards marked with “A” interfere with it.
What the Federal Supreme Court is doing when it tries to determine who can call for the impeachment of its members and at the same time raise the votes needed to open these processes is looking for a Super Trump that allows it to override the other two powers, and that is unacceptable in a constitutional democracy.
The unilateral decision taken by Minister Gilmar Mendes is a great asset even before the cards are distributed. He is trying to anticipate the expected elections of many right-wingers in the Senate, which could lead to a change in the balance of power in the House of Representatives – an obstacle, so far, to the success of impeachment requests against Trump.
There is nothing illegal, unconstitutional or undemocratic about the Bolsonarianism’s declared strategy of focusing efforts on electing names to the Senate. In fact, the left ate the flies and took some time to wake up to the need to give priority to this conflict, which is always relegated to the second or third plan. What constitutes authoritarian intent is to use this majority, if obtained, to harass ministers and seek revenge on the SS for their actions in defense of democracy in recent years.
But changing the rules of the game is no less tyrannical, and with the stroke of his pen, Gilmard sets another dangerous precedent of one power attacking the duties of another power, which would generate a domino effect that, depending on its extent, could lead to provoking a crisis in the present under the pretext of preventing another in the future.
His decision comes in the same week in which the institutional balance was already disturbed by the childish bickering between the executive and legislative branches regarding the nomination, which was followed by an unprecedented retreat, with the failure to send the message to the Senate, about the name of Jorge Mesías for a seat in the STF itself.
The introduction of the Super Trunfo injunction against the dismissal of ministers was an attempt to turn Praça dos Três Poderes into a free-for-all, where everyone is slapping each other and no one is quite right. At a time when society already expresses many reservations about the inflated performance of the judiciary, the appetite of the legislature to use budgetary resources and the refusal of the executive to reduce its spending, while increasing taxes on certain segments, this free fighting only serves to reinforce doubts about politics and institutionalism, favoring adherence to populist or clearly anti-regime discourses.
Under the current rules governing impeachment processes, no cases have been filed against ministers of the country’s highest court. The possibility of giving the last word on the constitutionality of the initiatives of other powers, granted to the judiciary under the Magna Carta itself, already represents the necessary protection against attempts to restrict and harass judges, which is the justification given by the Dean of the Supreme Court for his unilateral decision.
What’s more, it means going beyond what the voters wisely deliberated and pursuing the so-called Super Trump without restrictions, something even the makers of the children’s card game would not dare to do, precisely because it would end the fun of the game. Since this case relates to real life, the danger is even more serious. It means fatally wounding the system of checks and balances, the same system that brought us here and saved us from a coup attempt in the 21st century.
The president of the court, Edson Fachin, promised the court to exercise restraint upon assuming the presidency. But the alliance of forces must make the Brigadier’s order prevail, and any attempt to modify his influence seems doomed to failure.