Leaked messages expose Gilmar Mendes’s rift with fellow STF justices

Leaked messages expose Gilmar Mendes’s rift with fellow STF justices
Reports on leaked WhatsApp exchanges suggest that tensions surrounding the Banco Master case and the leadership of Brazil’s Federal Police were building inside the Supreme Federal Court (STF) before they became visible in public proceedings.

According to one account, Gilmar Mendes questioned the votes cast by Kassio Nunes Marques and Luiz Fux after André Mendonça ordered Federal Police director-general Andrei Rodrigues removed. Mendes reportedly saw their support for Mendonça’s decision as coordinated and pressed them over reports that their relatives had been mentioned in material extracted from Banco Master founder Daniel Vorcaro’s phone.

In the reported exchange with Nunes Marques, Mendes demanded that he and Fux acknowledge they were compromised, leave the cases and disclose their accounts. Nunes Marques replied, “Respect me, Gilmar. This is not appropriate conduct,” and later said he would open his accounts “with great pleasure,” maintaining that he had accounted for everything throughout his 15 years as a judge. He subsequently declared himself barred from a proceeding concerning a possible investigation involving Alexandre de Moraes, citing his role as president of the Superior Electoral Court, according to the reports.

Fux’s response reflected a similarly firm rejection of Mendes’s intervention, but from a different angle: judicial autonomy rather than disclosure. After Mendes said he expected the conduct in the Federal Police case not to be repeated, Fux responded that no one could tell him how to act. When Mendes later urged him to focus on his role as president of the Second Panel, Fux replied: “Take care not to bother me.”

Online reactions amplified the confrontation rather than its underlying legal questions. Commentator Paulo Figueiredo reposted Fux’s retort approvingly, while Rodrigo Constantino characterized Mendes’s conduct during the wider dispute as an interruption in defense of Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet. The accounts agree on the severity of the clash, but differ sharply over whether Mendes’s pressure represented a demand for accountability or an improper attempt to influence colleagues.

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