Alexandre de Moraes, the powerful judge of Brazil with his sights on Musk

With a plethora of investigations, Alexandre de Moraes has been relentless against former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro. Now, in his crusade against online misinformation, the supreme court judge has gained another adversary, the tycoon Elon Musk.

With a stern countenance in the hearings, but with a reputation as a comedian behind the scenes, the 55-year-old magistrate is fighting a struggle with the American owner of xTesla and SpaceX.

Musk, who does not hide his conservative ideas, threatened this month to disobey the magistrate’s orders to block user accounts on X – many of Bolsonaro’s allies – and called it “dictator”.

In response, “Xandao,” as he is known, included him in an investigation for “criminal instrumentalization” from social networks.

The extreme right took the opportunity to once again request the dismissal of the magistrate, whom they see as a villain, a symbol of alleged censorship and abuse of judicial power.

But in a polarized Brazil, many also see this bald man, who also presides over the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE), as a hero who saved democracy from the outbursts of Bolsonarism against the institutions.

“Political animal”

His rise as a nemesis of the conservatives was not the most expected destiny for this constitutional lawyer and law professor at the University of Sao Paulo (USP), who rose in politics at the hands of center-right and right-wing organizations.

He was Secretary of Security of the state of Sao Paulo, where he was accused of being heavy-handed in the repression of social movements.

He arrived at the Supreme Federal Court (STF) in 2017, indicated by former conservative president Michel Temer (2016-2018), for whom he had been Minister of Justice.

“Although his meteoric career has a legal side, what put him in the STF, and 99% of his career, is politics. He is a political animal“Constitutional expert Antonio Carlos de Freitas tells AFP.

AND “navigates well in various environments, including the military“, a TSE official tells AFP.

“Scoundrel”

Among Bolsonaro’s legal disputes (2019-2022), Moraes is in charge of the biggest headache for the former president: an investigation into his participation in an alleged coup plot to prevent the return to power of the leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

He is also being investigated as an alleged instigator of the assault on the seats of power in January 2023 in Brasilia by his followers, dissatisfied with Lula’s electoral victory.

During Bolsonaro’s hectic mandate, the judge also ordered the opening of investigations against allies and his actions so irritated the then president that he called him “scoundrel”.

“Bolsonarism found an enemy in Moraes, to the extent that it imposed the greatest defeats on the STF”Freitas said.

Last year Bolsonaro was disqualified for eight years for lying about the electoral system.

Many are not surprised that the former president’s alleged coup plot provided for Moraes’ capture, according to the police.

Against misinformation

Moraes also became omnipresent during the 2022 presidential elections, especially in containing electoral misinformation.

Since then, he ordered the blocking of accounts of influential right-wing and far-right figures on social media, restrictions that Musk threatened to lift by calling them “censorship”.

The judge’s interest in misinformation on social networks is even personal: the thesis with which he obtained the position of professor in Electoral Law at USP this month was titled “The new extremist digital populism”.

If the fight between Musk and Moraes came to a real fight – which many Internet users have fun asking when remembering the American’s frustrated idea of ​​fighting in a cage with Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg – it would not be something so far-fetched for him. Brazilian, who already practiced “muay thai” or Thai boxing.

President?

Little given to interviews or writing on his X account, “@Alexandre”, with a million followers, often resorts to the court pulpit to position himself.

“Freedom of expression is not freedom from aggression, for the proliferation of hatred, racism, misogyny and homophobia. Freedom of expression is not freedom to defend tyranny“, said.

At the top of the judiciary he can stay at least by law until he is 75 years old, but the magistrate, married with three children, “still has political pretensions“, a close source tells AFP.

For example, he asserts, “be president” from Brazil, although Moraes has not mentioned it publicly.