Brazil’s Senate rejected President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s nomination of Jorge Messias to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, dealing a political blow to the veteran leader as he seeks re-election in October. The Senate’s action was the first rejection of a Supreme Court nominee in more than 130 years, according to the Associated Press, and it left the court continuing to operate with fewer than its full complement of justices.
Messias, who has served as Brazil’s solicitor-general since 2023, faced a vote in which 34 senators backed him and 42 voted against his appointment. The tally meant he fell short of the 41 votes required for approval, prompting lawmakers to celebrate the rejection in the chamber, including presidential hopeful Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro.
After the vote, Messias told journalists from Brasilia that he was “thankful to each vote I received” and that he had to accept the outcome as part of politics. “That’s life. There’s days of victory, days of defeat. We have to accept it,” he said, according to the Associated Press report.
The AP said Brazil’s Senate President Davi Alcolumbre had openly advocated for a different candidate before Lula selected Messias. Brazilian media had also reported that Alcolumbre had been at odds with Lula after the president did not nominate former senator Rodrigo Pacheco.
A political analyst with Dharma Political Risk and Strategy, Creomar de Souza, said Lula has struggled to work with the legislature since returning to office, and that Messias’ rejection reflected that strain. De Souza said the administration took time to properly nominate Messias and that the voting process did not involve real coordination, adding that Messias was “too exposed” and did not receive an effective defense.
In addition to Lula’s Supreme Court nomination, the AP report linked the Senate’s stance to broader political tensions ahead of October’s election. The report said Flávio Bolsonaro told journalists that Messias’ rejection was an answer to what he described as the Supreme Court’s role in prosecuting lawmakers, and it noted that his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, was sentenced by the same court to 27 years in prison for leading a coup attempt.
Messias had previously been approved by a Senate commission, but the full Senate voted in a secret ballot and chose to reject him. The AP said Messias was Lula’s third nominee to the top court during this term, and it reported that Supreme Court Justice André Mendonca—nominated by Jair Bolsonaro—had posted criticism of the nomination on social media, saying Brazil had “lost the opportunity” to have Messias on the court.
With Messias rejected, Brazil’s president will need to nominate another candidate for Senate consideration. The AP said the last time Brazil’s Senate rejected a Supreme Court nominee was in 1894, when then-President Floriano Peixoto faced lawmakers over an appointment.