Brazil’s Lula plans new nomination to Supreme Court after historic defeat, sources say

(Refiles with new headline)

By Lisandra Paraguassu and Ricardo Brito

BRASILIA, April 30 (Reuters) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva plans to soon submit a new nomination to the Senate for an open seat in the Supreme Court, two people with knowledge of his thinking told Reuters, after lawmakers rejected his original nominee on Wednesday.

Lula is the first Brazilian leader in 132 years to have a top court nominee rejected by Congress, in a demonstration of the increasing tension in Brasilia as the general election scheduled for October approaches. Lula is expected to run for his fourth non-consecutive term.

Some figures on the right have argued that Congress should wait for the next president, who takes office in January, to appoint the new justice. Their position is reminiscent of the decision by the Republican‑controlled U.S. Congress not to consider President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee ahead of the 2016 election.

“The next nominee to the Supreme Court should be defined after the elections, with legitimacy and new criteria,” Senator Rogerio Marinho, the opposition leader, posted on X.

That move ultimately allowed President Donald Trump to appoint multiple conservative justices, reshaping the ideological balance of the court.

If a justice is not approved by the Brazilian Senate this year, the incoming president could appoint up to four members to the court, potentially altering its balance. Two of the 11 justices now in office were appointed by former President Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right leader.

Several polls in recent weeks showed a tie between Lula and Bolsonaro’s son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, for this year’s presidential election.

“There is no sense in waiting and risking being unable to make an appointment after the elections,” one of the people close to Lula said. “If the Senate chooses not to vote, the responsibility lies with them.”

A WOMAN NOMINEE

Lula’s failure to persuade senators to appoint his Solicitor General Jorge Messias for the job came after he successfully appointed his personal lawyer and a cabinet minister to the court earlier this year, despite facing a majority-conservative Congress.

Several conservatives complained that the president should not get to add another political ally to the court.

The choice for Messias had particularly angered Senate ⁠President Davi Alcolumbre, who wanted another nominee to fill the court’s vacant seat.

Now, Lula is planning to appoint a woman to fill the vacancy in the top court, the two people added, in an attempt to make it politically more costly for senators to reject his choice in a moment when voters are more alert.

Brazil’s Supreme Court has one woman among its 11 members, and Justice Carmen Lucia is scheduled to retire in 2029.

Still, some in the president’s close circle were skeptical that the president should open a path for a new humiliating defeat in Congress.

The government’s leader in Congress, Senator Randolfe Rodrigues, said the decision of who to appoint to the top court or when should be the president’s alone.

“But I believe that the president should exercise his authority to submit a nominee, whether a man or a woman,” he said.

(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu and Ricardo Brito in Brasilia, writing by Manuela Andreoni; Editing by Alistair Bell)