Brazil & Southern Cone - October 2026

Public trust in Brazil’s supreme court (STF) has been undermined as tensions have flared between justices over the handling of the Banco Master corruption case [EB-26-01]. The judicial crisis intensified in early September when the overseer of the Banco Master probe, STF justice André Mendonça, unsealed case files containing evidence that his colleague on the top court, STF justice Alexandre de Moraes, might have been in contact with the CEO of Banco Master, Daniel Vorcaro, the central suspect of the case. The high-profile case has become increasingly politicised, especially as the STF infighting escalated just weeks before Brazil’s October elections, in which President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is seeking re-election.  

Mendon­ça issued an order on 1 September to lift the secrecy from some documents relating to the Banco Master case, which prompted a surge in media attention on the unsealed files. He also requested that De Moraes be investigated under the Banco Master probe. The released material contained evidence gathered by police which suggested that Vorcaro had previously been in contact with De Moraes. Messages from the disgraced banker’s confiscated phone indicate that he had even asked De Moraes in mid-November 2025, just days before he was arrested, whether he should flee the country.

De Moraes has argued that Mendonça’s decision to selectively unseal case files was politically motivated. Mendonça was appointed to the STF in 2021 by far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2023), whereas De Moraes is among the most reviled figures for the far-right populist ‘Bolsonarismo’ movement due to his leading role in cases that have damaged the movement, such as the trial which resulted in Bolsonaro’s conviction for plotting a coup [SSR-25-10]. On 3 September De Moraes filed a request to STF president Edson Fachin to launch an investigation into Mendonça. He claimed that Mendonça was abusing his role as the Banco Master presiding judge to benefit the presidential bid of Bolsonaro’s son, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, by drawing attention to the alleged links between Vorcaro and De Moraes, an enemy of the Bolsonarismo movement, while distracting from Bolsonaro’s own alleged links to the Banco Master CEO.

The De Moraes-Mendon­ça dispute escalated further the following week when Mendonça issued an order on 8 September to suspend the director of the federal police (PF), Andrei Rodrigues, on the grounds that the PF had conducted surveillance on the STF justice. This came as De Moraes’ 3 September request to launch a probe into Mendonça’s alleged abuse of authority cited PF reports that resulted from surveillance on Mendon­ça, which he deemed to be illegal and a violation of constitutional rights. STF justice Flávio Dino then issued an order on 9 September to overturn Mendonça’s order and reinstate Rodrigues.

Amid the unprecedented institutional crisis, on 9 September Fachin overturned both Mendonça’s 8 September order and Dino’s order. But the hostilities between the judges were far from contained. The divisions came into full display on 15 September, when the STF held a session to begin discussing Mendonça’s request to investigate De Moraes. During the session, De Moraes and Mendonça traded insults, with De Moraes accusing his colleague of “being at the service of a political group that wanted a coup in this country”. The 15 September session adjourned without a final decision reached. At the time of writing, it has not been announced when the justices will discuss the matter next. Meanwhile, the Bolsonarismo movement is likely to continue repeating its calls for De Moraes to be ousted. (See our sister publication, LatinNews Daily, for more updates on the Banco Master case and the crisis at the STF).

STF composition

Of the 10 current justices on the STF, four were appointed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva: Flávio Dino, Cristiano Zanin, José Antonio Dias Toffoli, and Cármen Lúcia Antunes Rocha. Another two were nominated by Lula’s protégée, left-wing former president Dilma Rousseff (2011-2016): Edson Fachin and Luiz Fux. Far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro has two appointees: André Mendonça and Kássio Nunes Marques. Meanwhile, Alexandre de Moraes was appointed by centre-right former president Michel Temer (2016-2019), and Gilmar Mendes, the longest sitting judge on the court, was appointed by centre-right former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995-2003).