Brazil's judiciary is facing another round of public backlash after a suspended justice at the Superior Court of Justice, or STJ, continued to receive monthly net pay near R$100,000 even while barred from his duties during a disciplinary case.
According to Revista Oeste, STJ Justice Marco Buzzi remained on compensation broadly similar to his active-service pay after being removed from duty on February 10, following the opening of an internal inquiry into sexual harassment allegations. Payroll records cited by the outlet showed gross pay of about R$132,000 in February and nearly R$127,000 in March. After deductions, the net amounts were about R$106,000 and R$100,000.
The figures matter because Brazil's National Justice Council, known as the CNJ, said in 2024 that judges suspended during disciplinary proceedings should not keep receiving indemnity, temporary or extraordinary payments. The logic is straightforward: a magistrate removed from active duties may retain base salary, but there is little justification for continuing to reimburse work-related expenses or other extras while the judge is not exercising the job.
The STJ later said Buzzi would receive only the remunerative portion of his pay in his next payroll cycle, in line with CNJ rules. But the court did not explain in detail why the extra amounts continued to be paid for weeks after the suspension took effect.
That delay has reinforced a broader perception problem for Brazil's courts. The issue is no longer confined to one tribunal or one branch. At multiple levels of the judiciary, the credibility of the institution has eroded with the Brazilian public as repeated cases expose what many see as a spending spree with public money inside the courts. In a country marked by wide income inequality and persistent fiscal strain, controversies involving salaries above the constitutional ceiling, allowances, drivers, official cars and opaque indemnity payments have become politically toxic.
This is also not the first time the subject has surfaced in Today in Brazil. One of the source URLs tied to the current debate was already the subject of earlier reporting here, in our article on the Pará appellate judge who drew backlash after likening new limits on judicial perks to a "regime of slavery." That episode showed how the controversy extends well beyond Brasília and the upper courts.
Taken together, the cases suggest a pattern rather than an isolated administrative failure. In Pará, the controversy centered on resistance to new limits on allowances. At the STJ, the issue is the continued payment of extra benefits to a justice already removed from the bench pending investigation. The details differ, but the public message is similar: even under scrutiny, the judiciary has struggled to show that it applies restraint to itself with the same rigor it demands from the rest of the state.
Buzzi denies wrongdoing. His defense said he committed no improper act and argued that the accusations lack concrete proof. The disciplinary and criminal inquiries are still unfolding, and the allegations have not been adjudicated.
But the pay issue is separate from the merits of the misconduct case. Whether or not the accusations are sustained, the continuation of high extra payments during a suspension has intensified scrutiny of what many Brazilians already see as a culture of excess with public money inside the court system.
For the judiciary, that may be the deeper institutional risk. Courts depend not only on constitutional authority, but on credibility. Across Brazil's judicial hierarchy, that credibility has been steadily weakened each time another payroll controversy suggests the system protects its own privileges first.
Sources: Revista Oeste; earlier Today in Brazil reporting based on Metrópoles and Poder360.
Fonts: https://revistaoeste.com/brasil/ministro-do-stj-afastado-por-denuncia-de-assedio-sexual-mantem-salario-de-ate-r-100-mil/ https://todayinbrazil.com/article/para-judge-backlash-slavery-remark-pay-caps
accessed on 25 April 2026