"Monstrosity." That's what the Judiciary is, according to Barbosa.
At an event for business leaders, the president of the Supreme Federal Court harshly criticized the power he himself wields; the minister avoided commenting on former president Lula's statement to the newspaper Correio Braziliense, in which he affirmed that, today, he would have more criteria when appointing a minister to the Supreme Court; "I have nothing to say," he summarized.
From the Legal Consultant - The Brazilian legal system is a "monstrosity," and there is no justice system in the world as confusing as Brazil's. This assessment was reported by the portal. UOLThis is a quote from the president of the Supreme Federal Court and the National Council of Justice, Minister Joaquim Barbosa, during a lecture at the Exame Forum, aimed at businesspeople, in São Paulo.
While at the Supreme Federal Court (STF) Barbosa heads the court responsible for ensuring compliance with the Constitution, at the National Council of Justice (CNJ) he leads the body created in 2004 precisely to improve the functioning of the Judiciary. In the court's own words, its mission is "to contribute to ensuring that the provision of justice is carried out with morality, efficiency and effectiveness for the benefit of society."
To the business leaders, Barbosa said that the slowness of the justice system causes "serious obstacles" to the economy. For him, these obstacles are "vivid expressions of a decadent, verbose, but empty, and above all, uncommitted approach to efficiency."
According to the president of the Supreme Federal Court and the National Council of Justice, Brazil has adopted the expansion of the judicial system to try to resolve the slowness of legal proceedings. "The easy solution of expanding the judicial system is only a temporary palliative measure and does not solve the root of the problem, which lies in the outdated and baroque organization of our entire judicial system."
According to him, one of the solutions to the problems of the Judiciary is to prioritize the first instance, in addition to "reducing the excessive number of appeals that currently allows a decade to pass without a definitive solution to the dispute."
Barbosa, who was appointed minister in 2003 by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, also criticized the model for appointing judges. "One of the phenomena—which I call the most pernicious—is political appointment. There are no mechanisms that create automatism, so that, after a certain time, a judge is promoted without having to leave begging for money."
Barbosa stated that judges who are politically engaged in something are morally prevented from fulfilling their mission, just like those who are "cowardly."
The minister avoided commenting on former President Lula's statement to the newspaper. Mail BrazilienseIn his speech, he stated that today he would have more criteria when appointing a minister to the Supreme Court. "I have nothing to say. He was president of the Republic, I am not president of the Republic, I have no role in the appointment of ministers to the Supreme Court and I have never sought to exert influence over that role, which is not mine," he said at the event.