Mello bribes Barbosa for broad access to votes.
Contrary to the Supreme Court president's decision in the trial of Criminal Action 470, Justice Marco Aurélio Mello defends extending the deadline for filing appeals against convictions and says that lawyers should have early access to the justices' written votes to ensure "the exhaustive exercise of the right to defense"; "If the challenged action is his [Joaquim Barbosa's] act, will he take justice into his own hands, failing to bring it to the full court? Above all is the full court," he argued.
247 - Supreme Court Justice Marco Aurélio Mello went against the grain of the Court's president on Tuesday and argued that Joaquim Barbosa should bring to the full court the request from the defendants in the Mensalão scandal to have access to the votes before the publication of the judgment. He also advocated for extending the deadline for filing appeals against the convictions.
Earlier, Barbosa had said that haven't decided yet The requests from the defense lawyers of those convicted in Criminal Action 470 will be taken to the full court. The president of the Supreme Court has already denied several requests for more time and for early access to the votes, and the defense of the convicted is now trying to submit the matter to the full Supreme Court.
Marco Aurélio is among those who argue that lawyers should have early access to the material, to ensure "the exhaustive exercise of the right to defense." "This appeal must be brought before the full court. Publication is unfeasible before all pending incidents are resolved," the minister argued.
"Accident"
According to Marco Aurélio, "the assessment of the appeals precedes publication, because one of the objectives is to suspend publication until access is granted." He recalled that requests of this kind always go through the assessment of all the ministers. "This has never happened in the Supreme Court. If the challenged act is his own, will he take justice into his own hands, failing to bring it to the full court? Above all is the full court," he argued.
According to Marco Aurélio, creating an "incident" could "further hinder the progress of this process." "Then they will try to discredit the court's action. We could have already saved a lot of time if we had facilitated access to the votes already released, as I facilitated access to my vote," he commented.