Setti, from Veja magazine, is the first coup plotter to declare mourning.

Friends and followers of the blog, in light of the final outcome of the Supreme Court's judgment on the admissibility of the so-called dissenting opinions in the Mensalão case—Minister Celso de Mello, the last of the 11 ministers to vote and break the tie, has already made it clear that he votes to accept them—I confess that I write with a profound feeling of defeat and discouragement.

A feeling as strong as the one I felt when the Diretas Já movement failed to pass due to a shortfall of 22 votes in Congress on April 25, 1984.

A feeling of helplessness, of despondency, of GRIEF.

Minister Celso de Mello is, naturally, fully within his rights to vote for the admissibility of the appeals existing in the Court's Internal Regulations, even if they are no longer provided for in the legislation subsequent to the regulations that specifically deal with the processing of cases in higher courts.

To justify his vote, the minister drew from the Philippine Ordinances of the 17th century to the state procedural codes permitted by the 1891 Constitution. He argued with his customary solidity and erudition. The minister insisted on the need for a Supreme Court judgment not to be influenced by "public clamor" and frequently invoked "legal rationality."

Celso de Mello is a "defensivist," a proponent of the right to the broadest possible defense for defendants.

Even defendants accused of being involved in a corrupt conspiracy to stage a "white coup d'état," in the words of former Supreme Court president Carlos Ayres Britto.

I have always respected Minister Celso de Mello for his legal expertise, seriousness, and dedication to his work.

I don't think he was co-opted by anyone, especially since he had previously expressed the opinion he voted for today.

I will continue to respect the senior member of the Supreme Court.

But  I throw in the towel before the Brazilian justice system.

I'm throwing in the towel, mainly because of the legislation that the Brazilian justice system has to work with.

Our entire legal framework is designed NOT to punish the powerful.

With very rare exceptions, laws already leave Congress containing this nefarious chip.

E the tangle of codes, laws, statutes, regulations, and procedural provisions — that is, regarding the PROCESSING of cases within the Judiciary —, as he brilliantly demonstrated in This blog post features the illustrious judge Alfredo Attié from São Paulo., Over time, they have become a way of complicating and even preventing the full application of the law.

A way to obstruct justice as much as possible.

This is clearly the case with the Mensalão scandal figures, who are escaping prison thanks to procedural technicalities..

Given the possibility of appeals for clarification, as happened today in the Supreme Court, the lawyers for the defendants in the Mensalão scandal, paid handsomely—by whom????—the first thing they will do is file motions for clarification to clarify supposedly obscure points in the motions for clarification that have already been judged.

It sounds like something out of Kafka, but it's Brazilian law that allows for endless legal proceedings — solely for those who can afford expensive lawyers, of course.

Tens of thousands of prisoners languishing in our shameful penitentiaries, often for minor offenses, and who in some cases, miraculously, have a rare public defender, will NEVER get any help from this procedural mess.

This is something for the rich and powerful, by the rich and powerful.

In the case of the Mensalão defendants, only after the new motions for clarification have been judged, and only after the absurd year-end recess of the Judiciary—Good heavens, why doesn't this branch of government, essential to the population, implement a rotation system for its members' vacations, like in any company?—will the motions for reconsideration begin to be examined, one by one.

This drawn-out nonsense will consume a good part of 2014, if not the whole year.

A year that will include a World Cup and presidential elections, as well as elections for Congress, state governments, and legislative assemblies.

Public opinion, exhausted, will be skeptical and scattered.

It's been so long that there could be another change of justices on the Supreme Court, either through retirement or by the hand of the Almighty.

Everything will then be ready for the convicted members of the Mensalão scandal to have their sentences reduced to open prison, house arrest, or even full acquittal.

For my part, I'm throwing in the towel right now.

What else can we do?