Flávio Bolsonaro, the PL party’s presidential candidate and son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, has placed a overhaul of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) at the centre of his election platform. The plan, titled "Para o Brasil Vencer o Atraso," includes a proposal to impose a one‑year quarantine period for anyone who has served as a minister or state secretary before they may be nominated to the STF. According to the campaign, the measure aims to "reduce the immediate transfer of political agents to the country’s highest court" and to strengthen the perception of independence among new justices.
The proposal would have affected recent appointments. Had the quarantine been in force, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva would not have been able to nominate his former attorney‑general, Jorge Messias, to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Justice Luís Roberto Barroso in October 2025. Lula did initially select Messias for the seat, but a coalition led by Senate President Davi Alcolumbre, Flávio Bolsonaro, bolsonarist senators and even Justice Alexandre de Moraes succeeded in blocking the nomination, marking a historic defeat for the government. The same rule would also have hindered Lula’s reported intention to nominate former Justice Minister Flávio Dino and would have impacted the earlier appointment of Justice André Mendonça, who served as attorney‑general and justice minister under Jair Bolsonaro before joining the STF.
Beyond the quarantine, Flávio Bolsonaro’s plan seeks to limit monocratic decisions—rulings issued by a single justice—and to abolish the STF’s original criminal jurisdiction, which allows the court to hear certain criminal cases in the first instance. Under the proposal, politicians and other federal authorities accused of crimes would be tried by lower courts, such as the Federal Regional Tribunals and the Superior Court of Justice (STJ). The campaign has not yet released detailed mechanics for these changes.
The STF, Brazil’s constitutional court, comprises 11 justices appointed by the president and approved by the Senate. Three seats are slated to become vacant in the next presidential term: Justices Luiz Fux (expected retirement 2028), Cármen Lúcia (2029) and Gilmar Mendes (2030), in addition to the Barroso vacancy that remains unfilled. Opinion polls cited by O Globo show overall trust in the STF at 50% among Brazilian voters, but distrust rises to 73% among bolsonarist electors.
The plan also touches on Senate politics, noting that the Bolsonaro clan hopes to expand its Senate majority to advance roughly 100 pending impeachment requests, with Minister Alexandre de Moraes—a frequent target of bolsonarist criticism—being a primary focus. Internal STF monitoring of recent voter‑intention surveys projects a possible "pro‑impeachment" bloc of about 40 senators out of 81, still short of the 54 votes required to open an impeachment process under a controversial December 2023 ruling by Justice Gilmar Mendes that raised the threshold from a simple majority.
All factual statements are derived from the single O Globo source provided.