DISRESPECT

DISRESPECT

Ana Paula Arendt

The Constitution stipulates that the President must appoint a Supreme Court Justice; however, the President of the Republic cannot appoint someone to the position in a discriminatory manner, disrespecting the Constitution.

It is unacceptable to require that someone be a white man, or fo behave and present oneself like one, to be nominated to higher positions, resulting from that only white men being appointed to higher positions; nor can competent jurists be repeatedly excluded because they are women or Black, as has been done in the Brazilian Supreme Court for the past ten years. This is a clear disrespect for the principles established by the Brazilian 1988 Federal Constitution, which guarantees the equal dignity of men and women, regardless of color of skin, religion, or race. Nor does the Brazilian Constitution allow the use of Supreme Court appointments to produce electoral benefits, or to please the evangelical, Catholic, or any other religious electorate. A nomination to the Supreme Court should include women, and black jurists, and be based on unblemished reputation and fulfilling the necessary expertise as a judge or scholar in Law.

Justices who accept nominations contrary to these fundamental principles, turning the Supreme Court into a small club that does not allow the invitation of women or Black people, are also complicit in this violation of the Federal Constitution. This is serious: a jurist worthy of being a Supreme Court Justice would rightfully refuse the nomination and defend this principle of the Federal Constitution, instead of disregarding it. A Supreme Court is being formed, therefore, with those who prioritise defending their personal career interests, not the Constitution first. In doing so, they lose their unblemished reputation and lack the necessary expertise required by law: they become unworthy of the position.

It is sad that some internet users are only looking at the clause that defines the president's prerogative to nominate: ignoring the Law, they throw away all the remaining content and purpose of the Constitution. It is also regrettable that newspapers are reducing the seriousness of violating an entrenched constitutional clause to a debate about identity issues.

Citizens should never lose heart, nor should they remain solely focused on educational campaigns, lest they become elusive campaigns. Let justice be done, respecting the Federal Constitution.