Brazil Justice Reinstates Suspended Police Chiefs

Eleven of the Federal Police’s 15 directors offered to resign in solidarity with Rodrigues and Almada, while 13 retired Supreme Court justices—including three former chief justices—urged the sitting court to respond publicly rather than behind closed doors.

The dispute follows years of expanded authority for Justice Alexandre de Moraes: he has overseen an inquiry into threats against the court, ordered social-media accounts removed and suspended Elon Musk’s platform X across Brazil in 2024, actions Musk called censorship and Moraes defended as protection against coordinated disinformation.

The court’s political stakes also reflect its handling of the January 2023 attacks on government buildings: Moraes led the judicial response, and the court’s First Panel later convicted Jair Bolsonaro of plotting a coup and sentenced him to 27 years, though Justice Luiz Fux dissented and argued the court lacked jurisdiction.

Dino argued that Mendonça should not be able to remove the police officials “for his own cause, aiming stop investigations and police work,” and said the reinstatement should be reviewed by the full 10-member court rather than by an individual justice.