Brazil's Senate rejects Jorge Messias for the Supreme Court

The Brazilian Federal Senate rejected the nomination of attorney general Jorge Messias to the Supreme Federal Court. The vote was 42 to 34. It was a secret ballot. The rejection is the first of its kind in more than a century.

The Supreme Federal Court is Brazil's highest constitutional court. Justices are nominated by the president and must be approved by the Senate. A rejection means Messias will not take the seat. An attorney general is the government's chief legal officer, the post Messias held when he was nominated.

Forty-two votes against and 34 in favor is a decisive loss, not a tie. A secret ballot means senators' individual votes are not published. More than a century since the last rejection makes the vote historically rare. The report does not name the president who sent the nomination or the justice Messias would have replaced.

Senate confirmation is a check on presidential appointments to the court. When the Senate says no, the president must choose someone else if the seat is to be filled. The report does not say who the next nominee will be. It records the defeat of this one.

A secret ballot can shield senators from party pressure, or it can hide accountability, but the report does not discuss motives. It gives the numbers and the historical comparison. Messias remains identified as attorney general in the account of the vote, not as a justice.

Jorge Messias will not join the Supreme Federal Court on this nomination. The Senate voted 42 to 34 against him in secret. No nominee had been rejected in more than a century. The vote was held on April 29.