Notes on the shamelessness of the Temer era

The nomination of a minister to the Supreme Federal Court (STF) is one of the highest and most exclusive prerogatives of the President of the Republic. It involves choosing a judge who will be the guardian of the Constitution and the rights, duties, and guarantees emanating from it, not a government aide. However, with the death of Teori Zavascki, a shameless dispute has arisen between interest groups to secure the appointment of the new minister. And since, in addition to decency, the country is also losing the capacity to be astonished by such outrageous conduct, it watches these lobbying movements with indifference. An aide to Temer received a list of nominations signed by two jurists who filed the impeachment request against former President Dilma and by far-right movements that participated in the crusade for the coup. Imagine if, during Lula's or Dilma's time, the CUT (Unified Workers' Central) and other social movements had gone to the Presidential Palace to lobby for the nomination of this or that name to the Supreme Court? It would have been a resounding scandal.

The Fiesp lobby to install Ives Gandra Filho is another immoral act. In what civilized country do representatives of the economic elite work to install ministers on the highest court of justice, where major conflicts of interest will, at some point, be judged? The man is sexist and homophobic, but the sponsorship of his nomination is scandalous. It should be. But everything seems natural, just like the zeal of the PSDB and five other parties to install Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes in Teori's position. 

And speaking of him, let's return to the shamelessness. After the resignation of the seven members of the Penitentiary Council, he justified it by saying they were all linked to the Dilma government. And he added, with absolute contempt for the intelligence of others: the council is a state body, not a government body. Being a state body, the origin of the council members doesn't matter, but rather their competence and technical profile to be part of the supervisory body of penitentiary policy. The clash between the council members and the minister was due to his insistence on transferring resources from the penitentiary fund, despite the chaos in the prisons, to the public security fund, which subsidizes police activities. Before, he had expanded the council to obtain a majority, and the new members showered him with shameless praise. They are government council members, not state council members.

The Supreme Court, in recess and still reeling from Teori's death, silently watches the auctioning off of Teori's robes in the political marketplace. One of its ministers, Gilmar Mendes, has long since lost any qualms about explicitly stating his political alignment and naturally fulfills the role of advisor to the President of the Republic. With utter shamelessness, the Presidential Palace leaks information that the government does not want the president of the Supreme Court, Cármen Lúcia, to quickly approve the Odebrecht plea bargain. The Presidential Palace is taking advantage of Teori's death to buy time regarding Lava Jato, as Minister Eliseu Padilha candidly stated.

The Amnesty Commission, a state body, was revamped to become a government appendage. Those with pending cases can, for now, forget about achieving reparations for crimes committed during the dictatorship. EBC, a state body responsible for the public communication system, has become a government-backed communication agency and a source of jobs for cronies. And so we continue with the general dismantling of the republican culture that was still incipient but promised to advance. But the wheel of history has turned backward.