The president of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), minister Luís Roberto Barroso, stated this Monday (9) that the Judiciary has no role in the country’s fiscal crisis
The statement was made during an interview to release an overview of the Court’s activities in 2024.
Asked about the possibility of the Judiciary contributing to the fiscal adjustment promoted by the federal government, Barroso said that the Brazilian Justice complies with the spending ceiling established in 2017.
“In the last seven years, the Judiciary has not spent a single penny more than the budget it had in 2017, corrected [pela inflação]. Therefore, the Judiciary has no participation in or responsibility for the Brazilian fiscal crisis.”
Regarding the payment of so-called super salaries to some judges, the president stated that he is against any illegal payment, but highlighted that some “extras” reported by the press are compensation to which judges are entitled, such as an accumulation of functions and a collection of cases.
“Any type of compensation that is illegal, that is not authorized by law, is illegitimate and I am against it”, he added.
Abortion
The president of the STF also said that the trial on the decriminalization of abortion should not be scheduled in 2025.
According to the minister, the debate on the topic is not yet mature. In September last year, the trial was suspended after minister Rosa Weber (retired) voted in favor of decriminalizing abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy.
“The debate is not yet ripe for the Supreme Court to decide on this matter. Abortion is a bad thing. Nobody considers it to be a good thing, nobody defends abortion as public policy. Brazilian society still does not clearly make a distinction: Being against it is different from thinking that whoever had to do it due to some circumstance should be arrested”, he stated.
Amendments
Regarding the criticism that the Supreme Court has received from the political world for restricting the payment of parliamentary amendments by demanding principles of transparency, Barroso declared that the constitutional role of the Court is to resolve issues of great national importance.
For the minister, the STF’s leading role is confused with judicial activism. “Issues that, in other parts of the world, are left to politics, in Brazil become legal and judicialized issues”, he added.
