The Supreme Court’s Latest Coup Against Congress: Justice Moraes Tramples the Constitution to Save Carla Zambelli’s Tormentor
By Hotspotnews – Dec.12, 2025
On December 11, 2025, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes issued one of the most brazen power grabs in the history of the Brazilian Republic. With a single stroke of the pen, he suspended the Chamber of Deputies’ sovereign decision rejecting the cassation of Deputy Carla Zambelli’s mandate and ordered a new vote—effectively nullifying the will of the people’s elected representatives because the result did not please him.
The facts are simple and irrefutable. Carla Zambelli, a conservative firebrand and one of the most vocal opponents of the current regime inside Congress, had her mandate placed under threat after a criminal conviction. According to the crystal-clear text of Article 55 of the Federal Constitution, the loss of a parliamentary mandate in such cases is not automatic. Paragraph 2 explicitly states that the cassation “shall be decided by the Chamber of Deputies (…) by absolute majority, upon provocation by the Board or a political party represented in the National Congress, with full defense guaranteed.”
In other words: only the Chamber decides, and it decides by secret vote requiring 257 votes. No court, not even the Supreme Court, has the constitutional power to review the merits or the counting of that vote. It is a classic political act, reserved exclusively to the Legislative Branch as a fundamental guarantee of separation of powers.
The Chamber voted. The absolute majority was not reached. End of story—or it should have been.
But Justice Moraes, acting alone in the middle of the court’s recess, decided that the Constitution is whatever he says it is on any given day. He suspended the effects of the vote, ordered the vote to be repeated, and threatened deputies with fines and imprisonment if they do not obey. A single man overturned the decision of 513 elected representatives.
This is not jurisprudence. It is dictatorship in a black robe.
For years, conservatives have warned that the Brazilian Supreme Court, under the leadership of ministers like Moraes and Barroso, has been systematically dismantling the constitutional order. Congress is intimidated, governors are arrested without due process, social media platforms are censored, and now the very act of voting inside the Chamber is subject to judicial veto. What remains of the Republic when the Legislative Branch can no longer protect its own members without the Supreme Pontiff’s blessing?
The message sent to every conservative deputy is chilling: oppose the regime, and we will find a way—any way—to remove you. Criminal conviction, administrative process, parliamentary inquiry, or simply a monocratic injunction on a December afternoon. The method changes; the objective remains the same.
Brazil is living through a silent judicial coup that began with the imprisonment of political opponents in 2018 and has now reached the point where the Supreme Court claims the power to annul votes inside Congress itself. If this precedent is accepted, there is nothing—no law, no vote, no constitutional clause—that cannot be overturned by a single minister whenever it becomes politically inconvenient.
The Chamber of Deputies must resist. The President Hugo Motta and the parliamentary leadership have only one constitutional response: non-compliance. The vote was held, the quorum was not reached, Deputy Zambelli remains in office, and no monocratic decision can change that without destroying the 1988 Constitution once and for all.
History will judge harshly those who, out of fear or convenience, bowed their heads in the face of this outrage. And it will honor those who had the courage to say, loudly and clearly: the Constitution still matters, the separation of powers still matters, and no black-robed dictator will govern Brazil in place of its elected representatives.
The line has been crossed. It is time to defend the Republic—before there is nothing left to defend.