President Jair Bolsonaro's wish to eliminate groups that support federal public administration—committees, commission, and councils—might not be granted. The Supreme Court, in a majority, wants to restrict a decree that would eliminate these groups.
The scope of the government's final plans will depend on the outcome of the trial, which was postponed because court president Dias Toffoli requested a hearing.
Bolsonaro also suffered defeats in Congress on Wednesday (12): in the Senate, the Constitutional and Justice Commission overturned support decree that relaxes possession of arms; in the House, party leaders made an agreement to exclude states and municipalities from the pension reform proposal.
In the Supreme Court, the justices analyzed an action against Bolsonaro's decree, published in April, that hopes to extinguish federal public administration support groups. This is the first time that the Supreme Court plenary has considered a measure of the current government.
Nine justices said that the President of the Republic could only get rid of the councils and committees that have been created by decree or by another infralegal norm.
In their view, Bolsonaro can not suppress structures supported in the law, that is, that have passed the sieve of the National Congress.
Also included in the measure were bodies mentioned in the law, but the text does not specify what their competences and composition - it is not known which groups are included in this definition, which should cover a considerable part of the councils, but it is estimated that they are not the majority.
The Workers' Party filed the judgment ordering the decree to be annulled by the Supreme Court. The justices still need to analyze the merits of the action later, at a date not yet marked.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon