SAO PAULO — In an unprecedented political development that has not occurred in more than a century, Brazil’s federal Senate delivered a sharp legislative setback to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Wednesday, voting down his pick for the nation’s Supreme Court.
Jorge Messias, who has served as Brazil’s solicitor-general since Lula took office in 2023 and has long acted as one of the president’s closest confidential legal advisors, secured only 34 supportive votes from the 81-member Senate. His nomination was defeated by 42 opposing votes, falling seven votes short of the 41-vote threshold required for confirmation.
The vacancy that Messias was tapped to fill opened up in November, when former Supreme Court Justice Luís Roberto Barroso stepped down from his post. Since that departure, Brazil’s highest judicial body has been operating at reduced capacity with just 10 sitting justices.
Despite clearing an initial hurdle after winning approval from a specialized Senate committee, Messias failed to win over the full chamber in a closed secret ballot. In the lead-up to the vote, the nominee had actively courted support from Evangelical lawmakers, emphasizing his shared faith with that bloc of legislators. Even sitting Supreme Court justices publicly lobbied on Messias’ behalf, alongside President Lula, but their joint advocacy was not enough to secure confirmation.
Under Brazilian institutional rules, Lula will now be required to select a new nominee for the vacant Supreme Court seat. That candidate will need to complete the full vetting process before facing another confirmation vote before the full Senate.
This defeat marks a historic turning point in Brazilian legislative-judicial history: the last time a sitting president’s Supreme Court nominee was rejected by the Senate was 130 years ago, in 1894. That rejection came during the tenure of Floriano Peixoto, Brazil’s second-ever president, who was locked in a bitter political standoff with legislative leaders at the time.
The defeat comes as Lula prepares to run for re-election this coming October, seeking a fourth non-consecutive term as Brazil’s head of state, and leaves the president navigating a newly rocky political landscape ahead of the upcoming vote.