Brazil Senate approves Lula's justice minister for Supreme Court seat

Brazil Senate approves Lula's justice minister for Supreme Court seat

Brazil's Senate on Wednesday signed off on President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's nomination of Justice Minister Flavio Dino to the Supreme Court, paving the way for the minister to take on a seat that had been vacant since late September.

The 55-year-old Dino was approved in a 47-31 vote after a nearly 10-hour-long confirmation hearing in which he pledged not to let his political career interfere with his future rulings.

Two senators abstained from the vote.

Dino, who will replace former Justice Rosa Weber following her September retirement, was Lula's second appointment to Brazil's top court since he took office in January for his third non-consecutive term as president.

In June, the leftist leader tapped his former defense lawyer Cristiano Zanin for another seat.

A former federal judge, Dino was also a federal congressman from 2007 to 2011 and later governed the northeastern state of Maranhao from 2015 to 2022.

He was elected to the Senate last year as a member of the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB).

During the hearing, Dino argued that politicians' presence on the Supreme Court was not uncommon, in Brazil and other nations.

Asked how he would rule in cases regarding former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, who earlier this year was barred from re-election until 2030, Dino stressed that his opinions would not be swayed by his political party.

Lula was the third-consecutive Brazilian president to tap his own justice minister to the Supreme Court, after Bolsonaro and predecessor Michel Temer nominated now-Justices Andre Mendonca and Alexandre de Moraes, respectively.

The Brazilian Senate also greenlit Lula's pick for prosecutor general, Paulo Gonet, in a 65-11 vote with one abstention.

Gonet, 62, will replace Elizeta Ramos, who had been serving as top prosecutor on an interim basis since the term of Bolsonaro appointee Augusto Aras ended in September.

Gonet had been working as electoral prosecutor and helped secure Bolsonaro's conviction earlier this year in Brazil's top electoral court for his conduct during last year's narrow election loss to Lula.