Sen. Rogério Marinho said that if he wins the Senate presidency in February 2027 he will not shelve the more than 100 impeachment requests against Supreme Court justices, while reports say justices are working to shield Alexandre de Moraes.
BRASILIA — Sen. Rogério Marinho (PL-RN) said that if he is elected Senate president he will not ignore the impeachment requests against Supreme Court justices, Revista Oeste reported. “I will follow the Constitution in a very clear way. Unlike those who came before me, I will not stay silent,” Marinho said. The Senate presidency vote is set for February 2027, and the post controls whether a request against a justice is ever put on the agenda.
By Marinho’s count, more than 100 impeachment requests against Supreme Court justices sit shelved in the Senate. He said impeachment should not be used as a bargaining chip in the fight for the presidency of the chamber. His rival is the current president, Davi Alcolumbre (União-AP), who has reportedly kept those requests in the drawer, according to the report. Justices aligned with Gilmar Mendes are said to be working behind the scenes to secure the votes that keep things as they are.
Why it matters
In Brazil, only the Senate can remove a Supreme Court justice, and only its president decides whether a request moves forward. Nobody else has that gate. For American readers, picture a court that cannot be reviewed because the one official who could start the process is chosen, in part, by the people he would be judging. We laid out that mechanism in our earlier report on the Senate fight that will decide whether Moraes is impeached. Marinho’s statement turns it from a hypothesis into a campaign promise.
The record
What is documented: Marinho’s public statement, the February 2027 date for the vote and the existence of more than 100 requests, a number given by Marinho himself. What is reported but not confirmed by those involved: that justices have arranged an agreement to shield Alexandre de Moraes from impeachment proceedings, with conditions attached about other justices facing similar scrutiny, and that ministers close to Gilmar Mendes are lobbying for Alcolumbre. We could not confirm either claim with an on-the-record source.
A promise not to be silent is a low bar in a functioning republic, and the fact that it counts as news says something. The Lula regime depends on a Supreme Court that has moved to shape the Senate that could judge it, and the request that matters most, the one against Moraes, has been parked. If Marinho wins, the first test is whether he calls the vote or lets it sleep. If he loses, the 100 files stay where they are.
The Watch Post Daily will continue to follow this story. Sources: Revista Oeste.
Featured image: Entrevistas – Senador Rogerio Marinho (PL-RN) by Agência Senado, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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