Barroso's choice was a masterstroke by Dilma.

247 With a well-timed move, President Dilma Rousseff managed to resolve a major problem, which would have been the potential imprisonment of defendants like José Dirceu, without alienating the media.

A jurist of unassailable reputation, Luís Roberto Barroso should contribute to correcting the errors of the first phase of Criminal Action 470 – and cannot be criticized by the mainstream media, which supports him. This analysis comes from journalist Paulo Nogueira, former director of Abril and Globo, who now heads the indispensable Diário do Centro do Mundo. Read below:

Why did Dilma stay with Barroso?

She resolved the Mensalão scandal without upsetting Globo, which likes the new minister.

Paulo Nogueira, from Diary of the Center of the World

What do you do to solve a problem without creating another one?

Well, in the case of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), you nominate Luís Roberto Barroso.

Barroso resolves the Mensalão scandal. His arrival at the Supreme Court changes the landscape at a crucial moment in the appeals process.

The anti-defendant sentiment that dominated the Supreme Court, and which for a moment seemed to be leading to José Dirceu's imprisonment, is fading.

(Who doesn't remember Mônica Bergamo's account in Folha de S.Paulo about the day Dirceu packed his bags, expecting to be taken away in the middle of the night?)

Joaquim Barbosa, the big loser in the nomination, is now in the minority.

The second stage of the trial – the one we now know – almost starts from scratch. Dirceu can unpack the suitcase, if he hasn't already.

The extraordinarily harsh sentences handed down by Barbosa, and aligned with the media, will be greatly reduced.

Theories like the Domination of the Fact Theory, which allows for punishment without evidence, will return to oblivion.

It will be difficult, as has happened, to convict someone based on accusations from newspapers and magazines – most of which are unsubstantiated.

Barroso brought this to Dilma – the certainty that she will not have to endure Barbosa's expression of victorious sarcasm, so well expressed at Niemeyer's funeral.

To the reporters, Dilma said that the appointment had nothing to do with the mensalão scandal, but I'll call on Wellington to comment: whoever believes that believes anything.

It's a farce, it's true – but the ending is better than the beginning, given the sheer barbarity of the judges in the Mensalão scandal.

Dilma, with Barroso, also solves a problem, as mentioned above.

She could have faced a lot of media criticism with the nomination. With Barroso, she neutralized the biggest focus of the criticism: the Globo Organizations. As monopolistic as Globo is, you gain their approval and the rest is taken care of in the media relations chapter.

Barroso is a friend of Globo. He was a lawyer for Abert, the association that defends Globo's interests. As I showed in a previous article, he even wrote an article defending market reservation for Globo. (The arguments were ridiculous: even Mao Zedong was invoked as a risk. But the fact is that he wrote the article and it was published in Globo.)

Therefore: you won't see Jabor, Merval, Ali Kamel, Miriam Leitão, or anyone else on Globo attacking Barroso now or, a little later, in their interventions during the appeal hearing.

The Marinho family likes him: so his vassals like him too.

They are all papists, to use the expression that the former director of Globo, Evandro de Andrade, used to insinuate himself to Roberto Marinho when he wanted the job.

"I'll do whatever you tell me," said Evandro. That's basically what everyone there does.

Barroso simply cannot solve the problem of Brazilians having a pathetic Supreme Court – but nothing is perfect.