Alexandre de Moraes (; born 13 December 1968 in São Paulo) is a Brazilian jurist, currently serving as president of the

Superior Electoral Court The Superior Electoral Court ( pt-BR, Tribunal Superior Eleitoral, TSE) is the highest body of the Brazilian Electoral Justice, which also comprises one Regional Electoral Court ( pt-BR, Tribunal Regional Eleitoral, TRE) in each of the 26 states a ...

and as a justice of the

Supreme Federal Court The Supreme Federal Court ( pt, Supremo Tribunal Federal, , abbreviated STF) is the supreme court (court of last resort) of Brazil, serving primarily as the Constitutional Court of the country. It is the highest court of law in Brazil for consti ...

Life

Married with three children, Alexandre de Moraes studied at the Law Faculty of the University of São Paulo, graduating in 1990. De Moraes is an associate professor of the Law School, University of São Paulo (USP). He received a doctorate in State Law from the same university under the supervision of professor Dalmo Dallari, with a thesis about constitutional jurisdiction. He was a member of the

Brazilian Social Democracy Party The Brazilian Social Democracy Party ( pt, Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira, PSDB), also known as the Brazilian Social Democratic Party or the Party of Brazilian Social Democracy,. is a political party in Brazil. As the third largest par ...

(PSDB). In 2002, he was appointed Secretary of Public Security of the State of São Paulo. Alexandre de Moraes has been involved in several corruption related scandals, Alexandre de Moraes is suspected of receiving $4 million from a company that was part of the nation's largest graft scheme involving the Workers' Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores - PT) investigated by the Federal Police. Despite several corruption allegations and controversies De Moraes was nominated minister of the

by president Michel Temer on 22 February 2017, succeeding minister

Teori Zavascki Teori Albino Zavascki (15 August 1948 – 19 January 2017) was a Brazilian judge who served as a Minister of the Superior Court of Justice from 8 May 2003 until 29 November 2012, appointed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and as a Min ...

, who was killed on 19 January 2017 in a plane crash, while overseeing the investigation of politicians linked to the nation's largest graft scheme. Alexandre de Moraes assumed office on 22 March 2017. As minister, he claims to defend a policy of "zero tolerance". He denounced the alleged "criminal attitudes" of leftist movements and justified police violence. He was at the centre of another controversy when the Brazilian newspaper ''

Estadão ''O Estado de S. Paulo'' (; ), also known as ''Estadão'' (; ), is a daily newspaper published in São Paulo, Brazil. It is the third largest newspaper in Brazil, and its format changed from broadsheet to berliner on October 17, 2021. It has ...

'' published an investigation claiming that he had intervened to defend the Transcooper cooperative, suspected of being linked to Brazil's main drug trafficking group, the

First Command of the Capital Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC; "First Command of the Capital", , 1533) is, according to a 2012 Brazilian Government report, the largest Brazilian criminal organization, with a membership of almost 20,000 members, 6,000 of whom are in prison. ...

(PCC), which he denied. On 10 June 2020, de Moraes – in response to a legal challenge from three political parties – said the health ministry must "fully re-establish the daily divulgation of epidemiological data on the Covid-19 pandemic", including on its website: «Mr Moraes gave President

Jair Bolsonaro Jair Messias Bolsonaro (; born 21 March 1955) is a Brazilian politician and retired military officer who has been the 38th president of Brazil since 1 January 2019. He was elected in 2018 as a member of the Social Liberal Party, which he turn ...

's government 48 hours to release the full figures again». On 16 August 2022, de Moraes was elected as the presiding justice of the

, in a public ceremony with 2000 guests at the court auditorium. The justice Ricardo Lewandowski took place as his vice-president on duty.

2020 Brazil Judiciary fake news inquiry

In April 2019, the Supreme Federal Court president Dias Toffoli, a former legal representative for the Workers' Party (PT) in the presidential campaigns of

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist, and former metalworker who is the president-elect of Brazil. A member of the Workers' Par ...

in 1998, 2002 and 2006, launched an inquiry to investigate personal attacks and statements against court members. Moraes was chosen as its rapporteur. That month, Crusoé magazine reported that a document from

Operation Car Wash Operation Car Wash ( pt, Operação Lava Jato) was a criminal investigation by the Federal Police of Brazil's Curitiba branch. It began in March 2014 and was initially headed by investigative judge in France, but unlike judges in the common ...

revealed that then-Solicitor General Toffoli was also involved in the Odebrecht scandal, lead by the Workers' Party (PT) and involving former president

, according to the company's former chairman

Marcelo Odebrecht Marcelo Bahia Odebrecht (; born 18 October 1968) is a Brazilian businessman and the former CEO of Odebrecht, a diversified Brazilian conglomerate. In March 2016, he was sentenced to 19 years in prison for paying more than $30 million in bribes. ...

. On 15 April, de Moraes ordered that Crusoé take down the article from their website. Toffoli himself later requested a probe into whether Crusoé illegally leaked the document. The Court's decision on the matter was criticized by outlets such as ''

The Intercept ''The Intercept'' is an American left-wing news website founded by Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill, Laura Poitras and funded by billionaire eBay co-founder Pierre Omidyar. Its current editor is Betsy Reed. The publication initially repor ...

'' on the basis of censorship and attack on the freedom of the press. On 27 May 2020, as part of that same inquiry, the Federal Police launched an operation probing businessmen, bloggers and politicians allied to President Jair Bolsonaro. Several politicians (liberals and conservatives), private sector, civil society members and medias accused de Moraes of practicing nepotism, political interference, of political repression, abusing of power and deploying a

constitutional dictatorship A constitutional dictatorship is a form of government in which dictatorial powers are exercised during an emergency. The dictator is not absolute and the dictator's authority remains limited by the constitution. The Roman Republic made prov ...

. On 19 March 2022, de Moraes ordered the suspension of the messaging app

Telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

, accusing it of repeatedly failing to block accounts spreading

disinformation Disinformation is false information deliberately spread to deceive people. It is sometimes confused with misinformation, which is false information but is not deliberate. The English word ''disinformation'' comes from the application of the ...

, and ignoring previous court decisions. President Bolsonaro called the ruling "inadmissible", while Telegram founder Pavel Durov blamed the company's failings on email issues, pledging to do a better job.

Notes

References

, - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Moraes, Alexandre de 1968 births Living people Ministers of Justice of Brazil 20th-century Brazilian lawyers Government ministers of Brazil People from São Paulo Supreme Federal Court of Brazil justices 21st-century Brazilian judges