Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Edson Fachin has rejected a request to remove Justice Kassio Nunes Marques from the rapporteurship of a case involving the possible creation of a congressional CPI, or parliamentary inquiry committee, into Banco Master.
The request was filed by four senators: Alessandro Vieira, Eduardo Girão, Marcos Pontes, and Plínio Valério. They argued that Nunes Marques should be disqualified because of his publicly known friendship with Senator Ciro Nogueira, who is being investigated in connection with the Banco Master case.
Fachin did not address the merits of the senators’ allegations. Instead, he ruled that the request was submitted too late. According to the STF’s internal rules, a challenge to a rapporteur’s impartiality must be filed within five days. Nunes Marques was assigned to the case on March 23, but the senators only asked for his removal on May 12, well beyond the deadline.
The decision keeps Nunes Marques in charge of the action for now, preserving the current handling of the case in the Supreme Court. The dispute centers on the installation of a CPI in Congress to investigate Banco Master and related political and institutional questions.
The senators’ move reflects broader tensions around the case, which has drawn attention because of the involvement of political figures and the potential implications of a legislative inquiry. Their argument focused on the appearance of proximity between the minister and a senator under scrutiny, while Fachin’s ruling turned strictly on procedural grounds.
With the request denied, the case proceeds under Nunes Marques’s rapporteurship unless a new and admissible challenge is presented. The ruling underscores the STF’s procedural standards for contesting a justice’s participation in a case and the importance the court places on filing deadlines.
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