Lula has dinner with Barroso and asks his opinion on Messias, Pacheco and Bruno Dantas

Hours before retiring from the Federal Supreme Court (STF), Luís Roberto Barroso was received on Friday night (17), by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for dinner at Palácio da Alvorada, his official residence. In the conversation, the president brought up the subject of succession in the Court and asked Barroso’s opinion on each of the three candidates for the vacancy left by him.

Lula named the Union’s attorney general, Jorge Messias, senator Rodrigo Pacheco (DEM-MG) and the minister of the Union’s Court of Auditors, Bruno Dantas. Diplomatically, Barroso responded that they considered the three prepared to take on the role. During dinner, the two also talked about politics, personal life and the participation of women in the Judiciary.

According to members of the Judiciary and the government, Lula had already decided to give Barroso’s seat to Messias, but he did not say so to the retired minister.

The expectation is that the appointment will be made official at the beginning of next week. The president’s nominee must be submitted to a hearing and vote in the Senate before taking office at the Supreme Court.

Shortly before going to the official residence of the Presidency of the Republic, Barroso presented a vote in the virtual plenary of the STF in defense of the decriminalization of abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy. Subsequently, Minister Gilmar Mendes interrupted the trial, which has no scheduled date for resumption. In addition to Barroso’s vote, Rosa Weber, also retired, also voted in the same way as her colleague.