Brazil's Federal Police Chief Suspended in a Clash Between the Supreme Court and Lula

A justice of Brazil's Supreme Court has suspended the head of the country's Federal Police, accusing the force of monitoring him, and set off a direct confrontation with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's government weeks before a closely fought election.

On 8 September, Justice André Mendonça ordered the preventive removal of Federal Police director-general Andrei Rodrigues and of the force's intelligence chief, Leandro Almada da Costa. He also ordered an end to intelligence reports that analysed the actions of Supreme Court justices and government lawyers, and told the police's own disciplinary office to open criminal and administrative investigations into who produced them.

What the justice alleges

According to Mendonça, at least six reports were produced between 3 and 31 August that tracked his work as a judge and that of Jorge Messias, head of the Attorney General of the Union, the government's legal office. The reports also examined the conduct of some Federal Police officers.

"For more than 30 days this rapporteur has been subjected to monitoring," Mendonça wrote in his decision. He described the documents as technically poor, lacking proper identification or dates, and marked as low-confidence material with restricted circulation.

The case is tied to the Banco Master fraud investigation, which Mendonça oversees at the court. The Novo party had presented material from the phone of the bank's owner, Daniel Vorcaro, containing references to an "Andrei", whom it identified as the police chief.

The government pushes back

Lula's government has not accepted the decision quietly. The Attorney General of the Union filed an appeal arguing that the order violates the president's constitutional power to appoint the head of the Federal Police. The court's president, Justice Edson Fachin, gave Mendonça 72 hours to respond.

The Supreme Court's Second Panel, which Mendonça asked to review his order in an extraordinary virtual session, has already voted to uphold the removal. That leaves the government contesting a decision now backed by a group of justices rather than just one.

Why it matters

The dispute cuts across three sensitive lines in Brazilian public life at once. It pits the judiciary against the executive over who controls the country's main federal law enforcement agency. It raises the question of whether police intelligence has been used to watch judges. And it lands in the middle of the Banco Master scandal, which has already drawn in senior political figures.

The timing makes it more explosive. Brazil votes in October, and recent polls show Lula and his main challenger, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, separated by margins within the statistical error. Any suggestion that the state's security apparatus was turned against the courts will be used by the opposition, while the government's supporters will see a judge overreaching into presidential powers.

Key points

Justice André Mendonça suspended Federal Police chief Andrei Rodrigues and intelligence director Leandro Almada da Costa on 8 September.
He says at least six intelligence reports in August monitored him and government lawyer Jorge Messias.
The order is linked to the Banco Master fraud inquiry.
The government appealed, citing the president's power to appoint the police chief; Chief Justice Fachin gave Mendonça 72 hours to reply.
The court's Second Panel has voted to uphold the suspension.

The outlook

The internal investigation into the reports will determine who ordered them and whether other documents exist. Its findings could either vindicate Mendonça's claim of surveillance or strengthen the government's argument that a single justice acted too far.

Whatever the outcome, the episode adds another institutional battle to a campaign already shaped by courtrooms. Brazilian voters are being asked to choose a president while the courts, the police and the government argue in public about who is watching whom.

Image: Daderot via Wikimedia Commons, CC0