Alexandre de Moraes (Brazilian Portuguese:[aleˈʃɐ̃dɾidʒimoˈɾajs]; born 13 December 1968) is a Brazilian jurist, former politician, former president of the Superior Electoral Court and currently justice of the Supreme Federal Court. Moraes was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Michel Temer in 2017 when serving as Minister of Justice and Public Security.[3] Previously, Moraes had acted as Secretary for Public Security in the State of São Paulo and had been a member of the Brazilian Public Prosecutor's Office.[4]
Since around 2020, Moraes has generated wide public attention in Brazil and abroad for ordering several arrests, search warrants, and terminations of social media accounts of individuals and groups involved or suspected to be involved in planning coups and propagating fake news, in addition to nationwide blocks of widely used platforms that have failed to comply to his judicial demands, such as Telegram and Twitter. He has been a widely controversial figure since, gathering a great number of both supporters and opponents. While critics say his measures are authoritarian, abusive, anti-constitutional, and partisan, to supporters they are legal, albeit stern, and have been necessary to maintain the country's democratic rule, preventing coups and the rise of extremism. Among Moraes' supporters is the current left-wing president of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and among his critics is the former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro.
Moraes' presidency of Brazil's Superior Electoral Court and certain actions he took during the 2022 Brazilian general election has made him the target of criticism, including some false conspiracy theories, by Bolsonaro and his supporters.[5] After the 2023 Brazilian Congress attack, Moraes ordered several controversial judicial actions.[6][7] Moraes ordered the arrest of the invaders, which provoked protests from parliamentarians and groups linked to the political right (according to research, 24%), while the majority (63%) of people supported Moraes' decision.[8] Another controversy is defining whether the invaders of the Three Powers Square were patriots or terrorists, with Moraes classifying them as terrorists.[9]
Early life
Alexandre de Moraes studied at the Law School of the University of São Paulo, graduating in 1990.[10] Moraes is an associate professor of the Law School, University of São Paulo (USP). He received a doctorate in State Law from the same university under the supervision of professor Dalmo Dallari, with a thesis about constitutional jurisdiction.[11]
Career
Moares was a member of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB). In 2002, he was appointed Secretary of Public Security of the State of São Paulo.[10] His management was controversial: he was accused of covering up police violence. One out of every four homicides in the city of São Paulo was committed by the police. In addition, Moraes sent armoured vehicles to suppress left-wing demonstrations.[12]
At the beginning of 2016, he was called upon by Michel Temer. The latter was living under the threat of a hacker who had hacked into the cell phone of his wife, Marcela Temer, and demanded 300,000 reais under penalty of releasing compromising information and photos. Alexandre de Moraes quickly mobilized his police force, assembled a team of 33 investigators and arrested the blackmailer.[12]
Moraes assumed office on 22 March 2017. As minister, he claims to defend a policy of "zero tolerance". He denounced the alleged "criminal attitudes" of leftist movements and justified police violence. He was at the centre of another controversy when the Brazilian newspaper Estadão published an investigation claiming that he had intervened to defend the Transcooper cooperative, suspected of being linked to Brazil's main drug trafficking group, the First Command of the Capital (PCC), which he denied.[10]
On 10 June 2020, Moraes – in response to a legal challenge from three political parties – said the health ministry must "fully re-establish the daily divulgation of epidemiological data on the Covid-19 pandemic", including on its website: "Mr Moraes gave President Jair Bolsonaro's government 48 hours to release the full figures again."[13]
On 16 August 2022, Moraes was elected as the presiding justice of the Superior Electoral Court in a public ceremony with 2,000 guests at the court auditorium. The justice Ricardo Lewandowski took place as his vice-president on duty.[14][15][16]
2020 Brazil Judiciary fake news inquiry
In April 2019, the Supreme Federal Court president Dias Toffoli, a former legal representative for the Workers' Party (PT) in the presidential campaigns of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 1998, 2002 and 2006,[17] launched an inquiry to investigate personal attacks and statements against court members. Moraes was chosen as its rapporteur.[18] That month, Crusoé magazine reported that a document from Operation Car Wash revealed that then-Solicitor General Toffoli was also involved in the Odebrecht scandal,[19][20][21][22][23][24] according to the company's former chairman Marcelo Odebrecht. On 15 April, Moraes ordered that Crusoé take down the article from their website. Toffoli himself later requested a probe into whether Crusoé illegally leaked the document. The Court's decision on the matter was criticized by outlets such as The Intercept on the basis of censorship and attack on the freedom of the press.[25][26] On 27 May 2020, as part of that same inquiry, the Federal Police launched an operation probing businessmen, bloggers and politicians allied to President Jair Bolsonaro.[27]
On 19 March 2022, Moraes ordered the suspension of the messaging app Telegram, accusing it of repeatedly failing to block accounts spreading disinformation, and ignoring previous court decisions. President Bolsonaro called the ruling "inadmissible", while Telegram founder Pavel Durov blamed the company's failings on email issues, pledging to do a better job.[28]
In October 2022, the Superior Electoral Court gave Moraes the unilateral authority to order the removal of online content that did not comply with previous TSE rulings, as part of an effort to combat disinformation. Bolsonaro supporters and legal experts criticized the move, fearing that it could allow for censorship. Moraes cited the proliferation of false information and hate speech when initially proposing the move to the Superior Electoral Court.[29]
On 30 October 2022, during the second round of the presidential election between Bolsonaro and Lula da Silva, hundreds of roadblocks set up by the Federal Highway Police (PRF), under orders from the government, prevented voters from going to the polls in the Nordeste region of Brazil. Moraes summoned the director of the PRF, Silvinei Vasques, and threatened him with imprisonment if he did not lift the blockades.[12]
Shortly after the 2023 Brazilian Congress attack, Moraes ordered the arrest of the former commander of the Military Police of the Federal District, Fabio Augusto Vieira, the former secretary of Public Security of the Federal District and former Justice Minister, Anderson Torres, and enacted a federal interference for the removal of the Governor of the Federal DistrictIbaneis Rocha.[30]
Criticism
Several politicians, members of the private sector, civil society and the media accused Moraes of practicing nepotism, political interference, political repression, abuse of power and deploying a constitutional dictatorship.[31][32][33] American journalist and lawyer Glenn Greenwald has criticized several decisions of Moraes, accusing him of censorship and undermining freedom of speech.[34]
In 2023, The New York Times published a piece entitled "He Is Brazil’s Defender of Democracy. Is He Actually Good for Democracy?" The article questioned if the decisions of Moraes were beneficial for democracy, and observed that he "has jailed people without trial for posting threats on social media; helped sentence a sitting congressman to nearly nine years in prison for threatening the court; ordered raids on businessmen with little evidence of wrongdoing; suspended an elected governor from his job; and unilaterally blocked dozens of accounts and thousands of posts on social media, with virtually no transparency or room for appeal."[6]Twitter owner Elon Musk, responding to Greenwald on Twitter, said Moraes' moves were "extremely concerning", while Beatriz Rey, a political scientist at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, said Moraes' approach, while not ideal, was necessary because other branches of government, especially the legislature, had not done their duty.[6]
In Brazilian law it is understood that freedom of expression cannot overlap with other rights. The Constitution itself provides that the freedom of one individual cannot harm that of another. Section X of article 5, for example, determines the protection of intimacy, privacy, honor and image of people.[35]
In April 2024, X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk accused Moraes of "brazenly and repeatedly betraying the constitution and people of Brazil" in response to the Supreme Federal Court's order to block several X accounts, arguing combat of misinformation as the reason. This in turn resulted in the Supreme Federal Court opening a criminal inquiry against Musk for spreading misinformation and alleged obstruction of investigations. The exchange has elicited mixed reactions both from Brazilian politicians as well as international netizens.[36][37][38][39] In August 2024, X's press service accused Moraes of threatening to arrest the social network's employees in Brazil for failing to comply with blocking orders. In response, X announced the closure of its representative office in the country. Elon Musk again lashed out at the judge and proposed impeaching him.[40][41]
On August 30, 2024, X was suspended nationwide for failing to follow the directive, and Moraes set a fine of 50,000 Brazilian reais (roughly $8,900 USD) per day for anyone using VPNs to access it.[42] Shortly thereafter, X created the @AlexandreFiles account, purportedly in order to "reveal the unlawful directives issued to X by Alexandre de Moraes" and posted several allegedly illegal court requests that had made of X.[43][44] On September 2, the Supreme Court of Brazil upheld the ruling by Moraes.[45]
Political views
Since becoming a member of the Superior Electoral Court, Moraes has refused to express his political opinions publicly. He was previously known for his conservative views on economic issues and his support for tougher methods in fighting crime. With Moraes, tougher decisions are also expected in relation to the prison system and drug consumption, in addition to more developed stances on public spending cuts.[46] Carlos Velloso, a former president of the Supreme Federal Court, described Moraes as "a centrist jurist, neither too conservative nor too liberal. There are no excesses for any of these extremes."[47]
Personal life
Moraes is married to Viviane Barci de Moraes and has three children. He is of the Catholic faith.[10][12]
^Minas, Estado de (8 October 2019). "Odebrecht confirma propinas para o PT". Estado de Minas (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 8 November 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
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