Supreme Court Judge Tells Congress to Assess Case for Temer's Impeachment

04/06/2016 - 09h14

The Supreme Court judge Marco Aurélio Mello has ruled that the president of Congress, Eduardo Cunha, should approve the opening of impeachment proceedings against Brazilian Vice-President Michel Temer.

Mello argued that Cunha "did not respect legal protocol" in rejecting the request for Temer's impeachment, overstepping his remit in analyzing it alone when it should have been the task of a congressional committee.

Temer would not comment on the decision, while Cunha called it "absurd", saying he would appeal to a plenary session of the court. Temer also refused to comment on the merit of the accusations against him.

While the Planalto Palace welcomed the decision, considering that it will help to erode Temer's credibility, the government's legal assessment is that the ruling is likely to be overturned on appeal.

Until that happens, the government has instructed its allies in Congress to exploit the ruling in order to combat impeachment proceedings against President Rousseff.

In Rousseff's case, Cunha only decided to approve the opening of impeachment proceedings after failing to ensure that the governing Workers' Party (PT) blocked a similar process for his removal, which is being pursued by the Congressional Ethics Committee.

Mello said that in Temer's case, Cunha "jumped the gun", and that he should only have been responsible for a "formal analysis of the accusation".

Translated by TOM GATEHOUSE

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