Senate opposition leader Rogerio Marinho accused Supreme Court Justice Flavio Dino on Sunday of trampling electoral rules to assist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The criticism followed a decision by Dino to overturn an earlier ruling by Justice Andre Mendonca, who had ordered social media networks to remove an online post by comedian Antonio Tabet. Marinho, who serves as campaign coordinator for presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party, claimed that the top court was being used as an instrument of political interference during an active election.
The dispute centers on a satirical publication about Our Lady of Aparecida, the Catholic patron saint of Brazil. Tabet shared an image of the patron saint alongside a caption asserting that the militia family hated Black women so much that they had decided to attack the religious figure.
The comedian published the remark after false reports circulated online suggesting that Flavio Bolsonaro planned to strip Our Lady of Aparecida of her title as national patron. The senator denied the claim on Thursday, calling it fabricated and blaming political opponents.
Supreme Court clash over election satire
Mendonca had initially sided with the conservative candidate on Friday, issuing a preliminary injunction through the Superior Electoral Court. He ordered the immediate removal of Tabet's post, banned any republication of the narrative under a daily fine of 30,000 Brazilian reais, and ordered digital platforms to wipe similar posts.
Tabet appealed the ruling directly to the Federal Supreme Court. The comedian argued that his comments were political satire that never named Flavio Bolsonaro directly, warning that forced removal amounted to unconstitutional prior censorship.
Dino overturned Mendonca's order, ruling that government intervention in public debate and news reporting must remain an absolute exception. He ordered digital platforms and the electoral court to reinstate the comedian's post and restore any other publications deleted for the same reason.
In his ruling, Dino explained that curtailing free speech carries severe consequences during a presidential campaign. He stated that the strict electoral timetable imposes distinct phases where delays cause permanent harm, making state censorship especially dangerous for voters.
Dino also cited religious freedom, stating that political criticisms concerning religious preferences must remain open to public scrutiny. He argued that suppressing such speech could intimidate Catholic devotees and prevent them from expressing their own views during the campaign.
Opposition claims of court bias
Marinho condemned Dino's intervention in a formal press statement, accusing the magistrate of applying a double standard to assist Lula's Workers' Party. He argued that Dino was defending disputed speech under the banner of free expression while previously supporting confidentiality breaches to unmask journalistic sources.
The opposition senator cited an earlier controversy from August involving the breach of telephone confidentiality against a journalist based in the northeastern state of Maranhao. Marinho claimed that Dino had repeatedly circumvented established rules that govern how court cases are randomly assigned to judges.
Marinho appealed directly to Supreme Court Chief Justice Edson Fachin to intervene. He urged the head of the court to preserve constitutional normality and stop the judicial body from turning into an exceptional electoral tribunal that favors the ruling government.
Religious controversy and viral debate
The controversy originated from comments Flavio Bolsonaro made in August after skipping the first presidential television debate on Rede Bandeirantes. In a video message to supporters explaining his absence, the candidate promised that on his first day as president he would decree that Brazil belongs to Jesus Christ.
Social media users and political critics seized on the recording to claim that the conservative senator wanted to demote Our Lady of Aparecida, who holds legal recognition as the patroness of Brazil. Devotion to the saint is widespread across the country, making religious issues politically sensitive in federal elections.
Flavio Bolsonaro moved to dismantle the viral rumors on Thursday, writing across his official profiles that no such proposal existed. The senator rejected the narrative as false news and blamed what he described as a Workers' Party digital militia for spreading the claim.
Internal divisions inside Brazil high court
The clash between Dino and Mendonca highlights deep political and personal rifts inside Brazil's eleven-member Supreme Federal Court. Dino, who served as justice minister under Lula before his appointment to the bench, is widely viewed as a staunch ally of Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
Dino recently backed Moraes during a dispute involving the Supreme Court and Banco Master. In that matter, Dino raised a procedural point of order and requested a case review, pausing for up to 90 days any decision on whether to launch an investigation into Moraes over private messages exchanged with Vorcaro.
The reversal of the electoral injunction is not the first direct confrontation between the two justices. Dino previously issued an emergency injunction overruling Mendonca to reinstate Andrei Rodrigues, the director-general of the Federal Police, after Mendonca had ordered the police chief removed from his post.
Under Brazilian law, legal disputes over campaign speech normally begin at the Superior Electoral Court before reaching constitutional review. With the presidential election underway, the growing friction between appointed justices continues to fuel accusations of partisan overreach from opposition lawmakers.
