Brazil’s Supreme Court voted Wednesday to leave Senate President Renan Calheiros in his powerful leadership post, raising hopes economic overhauls making their way through Congress can be approved.
Calheiros had defied a preliminary high court order issued Monday to stand down as Senate leader following his indictment on embezzlement charges, sparking a constitutional crisis that had put the country on edge.
The court’s decision should aid President Michel Temer, who has been counting on Calheiros, a political ally, to help shepherd through Congress unpopular austerity measure aimed at closing a worrisome budget deficit and rebuilding Brazil’s credibility with investors.
Monday’s order had been issued by a lone justice on the 11-member Supreme Court. Justice Marco Aurélio Mello ruled Senator Calheiros should step aside following his indictment for falsifying his Senate expense reports, allegations Calheiros denies. Such temporary rulings are binding unless and until they are overturned by the full court.
The high court indicated recently, in a different preliminary vote, that officials under indictment can’t be in line to succeed the president. Mr. Mello based his order to remove Mr. Calheiros from the Senate presidency on that understanding.
The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday Mr. Calheiros can remain Senate president, but will be removed from the line of succession. “It was a decision by large majority, there is no way to rebel against it,” said Justice Celso de Mello, the most senior of the justices. “The court decided strictly within its competency and the constitution.”
A constitutional expert expressed dismay the high court let a powerful politician choose to defy an order by one of its members.
“They’re sending a message that he is stronger than they are,” said Ivar Hartmann, a law professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio de Janeiro.
Alessandro Molon, a representative from Rede, the party that asked for Calheiros to be removed from the Senate presidency, was at the court and said afterward, “This is a bad decision. We’ve missed an opportunity to turn a page in Brazil’s history.”
Senator Calheiros’s refusal to follow the initial order was unprecedented, and had ratcheted up tension that has been building for months between Brazil’s judiciary and legislative branches.
(Latinamerican)