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 ...
and as a justice of the
Supreme Federal Court.
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 (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
A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for the enforcement of the laws.
Jurisdiction
LEAs which have their ability to apply their powers restricted in some way are said to operate within a jurisdiction.
LEAs ...
. Despite several corruption allegations and controversies De Moraes was nominated minister of the
Supreme Federal Court by president
Michel Temer
Michel Miguel Elias Temer Lulia (; born 23 September 1940) is a Brazilian politician, lawyer and writer who served as the 37th president of Brazil from 31 August 2016 to 31 December 2018. He took office after the impeachment and removal from off ...
on 22 February 2017, succeeding minister
Teori Zavascki, 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 (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's government 48 hours to release the full figures again».
On 16 August 2022, de Moraes was elected as the presiding justice 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 ...
, 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
José Antonio Dias Toffoli (born November 15, 1967) is a Brazilian lawyer who has been a member of the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil since 2009, nominated by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Toffoli was the president of the Supreme Federal ...
, 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' Party ...
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 law ...
revealed that then-Solicitor General Toffoli was also involved in the Odebrecht scandal, lead by the
Workers' Party (PT) and involving former president
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' Party ...
, 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 reporte ...
'' 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
A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for the enforcement of the laws.
Jurisdiction
LEAs which have their ability to apply their powers restricted in some way are said to operate within a jurisdiction.
LEAs ...
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.
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 L ...
, and ignoring previous court decisions. President Bolsonaro called the ruling "inadmissible", while Telegram founder
Pavel Durov
Pavel Valeryevich Durov (russian: Павел Валерьевич Дуров; born 10 October 1984) is a Russian-born French-Emirati entrepreneur who is known for being the founder of the social networking site VK and Telegram Messenger. He is ...
blamed the company's failings on email issues, pledging to do a better job.
Notes
References
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{{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