By specifying that only the Public Prosecutor’s Office (PGR) can submit requests for the impeachment of ministers to the Supreme Federal Court (STF), Minister Gilmar Méndez has made it impossible to process 30 such requests that have been submitted to the Federal Senate this year alone.
Of the 30 applications filed against STF ministers throughout 2025, 18 targeted Minister Alexandre de Moraes. Gilmar’s decision will benefit the minister himself, who was targeted by four applications submitted this year.
Most (22 of 30) were filed by private citizens, according to a Senate survey sent to the blog. The others were introduced by deputies and senators, especially members of the Bolsonian shock troops angry at Moraes’ decisions. None of them were submitted by the PGR, as Gilmard claims.
In his decision, which he signed on Wednesday (3) in the framework of the lawsuit filed by the Solidarity Party and the Brazilian Judges Association, Gilmar stressed that “the mere threat of dismissal, on some occasions, proves to be a sufficient mechanism to intimidate members of the judiciary.”
The 1950 law states that “every citizen is permitted to submit a report to the Federal Senate, the Ministers of the Federal Supreme Court and the Prosecutor General of the Republic on crimes of responsibility committed by them.” But this device was suspended by Gilmar’s decision.
Gilmar stated in his decision that “intimidating the judiciary through arbitrary accountability creates an environment of legal uncertainty, seeking to weaken this authority, which may ultimately undermine its ability to act.”
The Minister concluded: “When the judiciary is exposed to arbitrary external pressures, as is the case in the case of impeachment aimed at violating the validity of judicial decisions issued by members of the Supreme Court, it loses its ability to act as a legitimate and neutral counterweight to other forces and becomes another tool available for the temporary interests of political groups.”