Bolsonaro's Conviction Was Decided by the Only Woman on the Brazilian Supreme Court

"In a landmark decision last week, the Brazilian Supreme Court convicted former President Jair Bolsonaro and six of his allies of attempting a coup d'état after losing the 2022 presidential election. The decision strengthens Brazilian democracy and sovereignty during an era of fascist, extreme-right governments unreservedly and unapologetically attacking the rights of marginalized people globally. But perhaps even more notably, it was a woman-the only woman on the Supreme Court-who cast the deciding vote, derailing the extreme right's continuous campaign to silence women politically in Brazil and beyond."

"Originally from the state of Minas Gerais, Supreme Court Justice Cármen Lúcia Antunes Rocha, 70, is only the second woman to join the Supreme Court. She has been at the center of some of the most controversial votes in the court's history, including the 2018 conviction of current president Luiz Lula Inácio da Silva, which infuriated left-wing movements at the time. His imprisonment was later overturned by the same court that found the proceedings were politically motivated to stop Lula from running for president."

"When casting her vote, Rocha described the court case as "one that pulsates a Brazil that hurts, a meeting of Brazil with its past, present and future," referencing the 20 years the country was under a dictatorship."

The Brazilian Supreme Court convicted former President Jair Bolsonaro and six allies for attempting a coup after the 2022 election, a ruling that bolsters democratic institutions and national sovereignty. The decisive vote came from Justice Cármen Lúcia Antunes Rocha, the only woman on the court and only the second woman ever to serve there, signaling resistance to extreme-right efforts to marginalize women politically. Rocha has played central roles in high-profile rulings, experienced controversy over the 2018 Lula conviction, and has spoken about the lack of female representation and full rights for women in Brazil. Historical fears of dictatorship heightened public attention to the trial.

Read at The Nation