Barroso, a former lawyer for Globo, is part of the Justice Minister's quota.

* Originally published in Citizenship Blog

Diverse sources have fed the Blog with a growing sentiment about the new Supreme Court Justice announced today by Dilma Rousseff, Luís Roberto Barroso, which can be summed up by the immortal maxim of the Athenian philosopher Socrates: "I know that I know nothing."

In some ways, however, Barroso's selection can be defined as the product of victories, firstly, for the Minister of Justice, José Eduardo Cardoso, and secondly, for the PIG (Party of the Coup-Mongering Press) and the PSTF (Party of the Supreme Federal Court, now in opposition).

Barroso's having been Globo's lawyer displeased some government sectors, but former Justice Minister Marcio Thomaz Bastos viewed his appointment favorably. Furthermore, if he represented Globo, he also represented Cesare Battisti.

Some of those displeased point out that having the same UERJ (Rio de Janeiro State University) as Joaquim Barbosa and Luiz Fux as a background is not a good sign. The president of the Supreme Court, incidentally, enthusiastically joined in the praise given by the Attorney General of the Republic, Roberto Gurgel, to Barroso's selection.

However, Minister Ricardo Lewandowski made similar statements about his new colleague on the Supreme Court. He said it was an "excellent nomination" and that the new minister "is a great lawyer, a defender of human rights, technically impeccable" who "will certainly make great contributions to the work of the court (...)"

The fact is, however, that one could not expect anything different from any of the aforementioned statements.

Interestingly, Veja blogger Reinaldo Azevedo seems to have become suspicious of Barroso's supposed "progressive" leanings, particularly his alleged support for abortion, stem cell research, and "gay marriage."

Trying to extract some impression of Barroso from sources more closely linked to the government, however, what became clear is that they believe the 55-year-old constitutional scholar – an age that suggests a long tenure on the Supreme Court – was not the best choice...

However, the logic behind the choice in question seems to be that, just like Teori Zavascki, Barroso should have no problem being approved in his Senate hearing precisely because of the uncertainty surrounding his political positions.

For those who were anxious during the interminable period it took Dilma to make this choice (an unbelievable six months), here's some information from someone who spoke with many people who understand the process: the anxiety will continue for several more months.