Supreme Court Approves Salary Raise For Justices

08/09/2018 - 12h29

Brazil's Supreme Court approved a salary raise of 16.4 percent for the Court's justices in 2019. The vote was 7 to 4.

The raise's impact in the federal justice system's budget alone will be R$ 717.2 million (US$ 191 million) annually. The raise will also impact states' justice system, all public defenders' offices, federal and statewide, as well as the accounting offices.

The Supreme Court's budget for 2019 is about R$ 741 million (US$ 198 million).

Justices Ricardo Lewandowski, Dias Toffoli, Marco Aurélio, Luís Barroso, Gilmar Mendes, Luiz Fux e Alexandre de Moraes voted in favor of the raise, which has been pleaded by Brazilian magistrates since 2015. Justices Cármen Lúcia, Celso de Mello, Rosa Weber e Edson Fachin were against it.

	Pedro Ladeira/Folhapress
	Brazil's Supreme Court

A Supreme Court justice's monthly salary, currently R$ 33,700 (around US$ 9,000), is the wage ceiling for all government employees. With the raise, the amount could reach R$ 39,300 (US$ 10,500).

The raise will have a waterfall effect in the salaries of judges, public defenders, members of the Brazilian Congress and general accounting offices.

According to Justice Toffoli, slated to become the next Supreme Court president next September, the court's expenses won't increase. "The raise will be taken out of our current expenses budget."

Translated by NATASHA MADOV

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