The Federal Supreme Court (STF) opened the judicial year of 2023 in a ceremony held this Wednesday morning (1st) with the presence of hundreds of authorities. Among them, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and the President of the National Congress, Rodrigo Pacheco, who made speeches in defense of democracy and the Democratic State of Law.
The inauguration of the work of the Judiciary was conducted by Minister Rosa Weber, President of the Court. In the opening speech, the magistrate reinforced the symbolism of the act, held in the same Plenary destroyed in terrorist acts on January 8.
Traditionally, the ceremony is formal and does not receive a large number of guests. The opening of the works, however, gained the connotation of a political act.
“Three weeks ago, the emblematic historic building where we are located, the facilities of the National Congress and the Planalto Palace, headquarters of the three pillars of Brazilian democracy, were the target of a coup-like and ignoble attack, directed with greater virulence against this Supreme Court, surely because it , by making the authority of the Constitution prevail in its jurisdictional action, it opposes autocratic pretensions”, said Rosa Weber.
The magistrate also said: “But I warn you. They did not destroy the spirit of democracy. They were not and will never be able to subvert it because the feeling of respect for the democratic order continues and will continue to illuminate the minds and hearts of the judges of this Supreme Court, who will not hesitate to always make the ethical and political foundations that inform and support the Democratic State of Law prevail.”
In his speech, Lula reinforced the importance of the Judiciary in the defense of democracy. “When I had the honor of participating in the opening ceremony of the 2010 judicial year, the last of my second term, I stated that our generation of rulers and magistrates had a noble mission: to leave, for those who are to come, a democratic environment even more solid than the one we found when we entered our functions.”
“At that moment, neither I nor you, ladies and gentlemen, could have imagined the escalation of attacks on institutions and democracy in recent years; an escalation that culminated in the barbaric attack on the headquarters of the three Powers. and hatred showed its most absurd face: terror. It was not an episode born by spontaneous generation, but cultivated in successive attacks against the law and the Constitution, with the objective of sustaining an authoritarian project of power”, continued the president.
“At the end of this period, which certainly marked the toughest test of Brazilian democracy since the 1988 Constitution, it is our duty to record the decisive role of the Federal Supreme Court and the Superior Electoral Court in defending Brazilian society against arbitrariness. In this room, against which the most concentrated hatred of the aggressors was turned, courageous and absolutely necessary decisions were taken to face and stop the setback, denialism and political violence,” said Lula.
Editing: Rodrigo Durão Coelho
