According to Merval, the Supreme Court gave Lula an answer.

247 - Columnist Merval Pereira, from Globo Organizations, believes that the definition of the Mensalão trial schedule, which will begin on August 1st, was a response from the Supreme Federal Court to former President Lula. Read his article below:

Good signs from the Supreme Federal Court - Merval Pereira

The schedule released by the Supreme Federal Court (STF) for the Mensalão trial can be considered a response to former President Lula's attempts to postpone it until after the elections. If everything goes as planned, without any minister requesting a review of the case—which seems unlikely due to the terrible public reaction it would cause—the trial should conclude in the first week of September, a month before the municipal elections.

Another important detail of the calendar is that Minister Cezar Peluso, who retires on September 3rd upon turning 70, will be able to cast his vote. He is the seventh judge to vote, and his turn should come around August 29th.

Peluso participated in yesterday's administrative meeting, which defined the calendar, and made several suggestions, which suggests that the possibility of bringing forward his retirement, by not returning from the July recess, is now ruled out given the feasibility of him casting his vote.

The president of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), Minister Ayres Britto, managed to achieve the three internal objectives he set for himself: the calendar was approved by common agreement, which demonstrates that the Supreme Court justices decided to show harmony, in a process that jurist Joaquim Falcão, director of the FGV-Rio Law School, classifies as a "de-emotionalization" of the Supreme Court's internal relations, which would recover the capacity to promote consensus.

The fact that a concentrated effort was approved for the first 15 days of the trial, with sessions every day of the week, shows that the Supreme Court gave the trial a special character, even though it did not cancel the July recess or schedule the entire trial for continuous sessions, as Britto also wanted.

The second part of the trial will be held in three daily sessions, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, with the acquiescence of the rapporteur, Minister Joaquim Barbosa, who has back problems and had said that he could not sit for more than five hours a day during the week. He himself admitted that the schedule took his health conditions into account, and he was satisfied with the pace of the proceedings.

The third important factor was putting together a schedule that would allow Minister Cezar Peluso to cast his vote, thus taking advantage of, in Ayres Britto's words, his "refined technique" and the knowledge of an experienced judge who will bring "quality to the judgment."

The schedule was also agreed upon by Minister Ricardo Lewandowski, who committed to delivering his review vote by the end of this month, thus ending the uncertainty about when his work would conclude. The president of the Supreme Court, Ayres Britto, does not rule out the possibility of bringing forward this schedule if the ministers decide to extend the hours of judgment, going into the night during the first 15 days.

"We will judge without blood in our eyes, but also without bouquets of flowers," is how Ayres Britto defined the mood of the ministers of the Supreme Federal Court, who, after all the turmoil they have gone through in recent days, with allegations of pressure on several of them, were able to reach a consensus that met their internal needs and also the desires of society, which has already given several signals that, unlike Lula, it wants to see the Mensalão trial being held as quickly as possible.

Another demonstration that the Supreme Court has mobilized to show the importance it is giving to the trial is that the court's new routine has involved changes to the sessions of the First and Second Chambers, which normally meet on Tuesday afternoons and will now meet in the morning.

The National Council of Justice (CNJ), which meets on Tuesday afternoons, will also hold sessions on the same day, but in the morning. And the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), presided over by Minister Cármen Lúcia and which includes two other Supreme Court justices, which holds sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays starting at 19 pm, will now meet one hour later.

The disparity in behavior between the members of their Ethics Committees and the plenary sessions of the Chamber and the Senate, with some recommending the removal from office of most of those involved in political scandals, and the parliamentarians as a whole tending to acquit those who were judged, clearly demonstrates the importance of ending the secret ballot.

The obvious explanation for the two behaviors is that, while voting is open in Ethics Committees, it is secret in plenary sessions, which shields individual decisions with the broad cloak of anonymity.

This crucial point for the improvement of our democracy has been hampered since 2001 by corporate resistance, as several constitutional amendments are being processed in Congress, making the secret ballot open to all.

The delay in approving this change clearly demonstrates the difficulties we face in moralizing our political practices. It's the same difficulty that exists in approving a profound political reform that organizes political action and prevents disloyalty and betrayal from going unpunished.

There are only a few occasions in which voting is secret in the Brazilian Congress: for the approval of ambassadors in the Senate; for cases of loss of parliamentary mandate; arrest of a parliamentarian in case of flagrant crime that is not subject to bail; selection of ministers of the Federal Court of Accounts and presidents and directors of the Central Bank; in the dismissal of the Attorney General of the Republic before the end of his term.

In all cases, the stated reason is to protect parliamentarians from pressure from other branches of government, but this excuse does not hold water when it comes to the revocation of mandates.