(Opinion) “The Ministry of Defense has been approved to be the agency that “interprets the Constitution in Brazil”.
This headline from Brazil may sound innocuous, even boring, but it contains explosive force in light of the showdown between Jair Bolsonaro and the Brazilian Supreme Court in the country’s decisive power battle.
The Official Gazette of the Syndicate published the approval of the internal regulation of the Legal Consultancy at the Ministry of Defense.
From now on, the Ministry of Defense will officially exercise the function of interpreting the Constitution.
This privilege of interpreting the Constitution normally rests with the Supreme Court.
It is Brazil’s highest court for constitutional matters and its decisions cannot be appealed.
The normative order is signed by the general prosecutor of the Union, Bruno Bianco.
Just yesterday, the Supreme Court warned what it would do if Jair Bolsonaro activated Article 142, and thus the Armed Forces would take power in Brazil. Read here.
With this new regulation, the Supreme Court can interpret whatever it wants, it seems. It can be canceled at any time by the Ministry of Defense, a staunch supporter of Bolsonaro.
Quite legally, we might add.
Here is the text of the publication:
“LEGAL ADVICE TO THE MINISTRY OF DEFENSE
Section I
Category and Competence
Art. 1º Legal Advisor to the Ministry of Defense, an agency of the Office of the General Council of the Union, according to the article. 2º, point II, letter “b”, of Supplementary Law no. 73, dated 10.02.1993, is charged
I – to provide legal advice and consultancy within the scope of the Ministry of Defense;
II – to decide the interpretation of the Constitution, laws, treaties and other normative acts, which will be followed in a uniform manner in the field of operation of the Ministry when there is no normative instruction from the General Prosecutor of the Union”.
Read the full ordinance here.
It will be interesting to see what kind of legal wrangling will unfold in Brazil. And who will win in the end.
It is certain that we have never seen the Supreme Court of Brazil in such a weak position.
And it looks set to be beaten at its own game.
The law.
