(Originally published by Lawfare on November 28, 2022) 

We haven’t seen a Latin American judiciary move aggressively against an authoritarian attempt on democracy since Colombia did so in 2010.  But in the leadup to Brazil’s 2022 presidential election, Brazilian Supreme Court justices launched wide-ranging investigations into fake news about the election, authorized a raid against businessmen who had texted about a possible coup d’état, ordered the arrest of a member of the Brazilian legislature who had advocated for a military dictatorship, and fined regular citizens for online posts against Brazil’s democracy. The Supreme Court’s forceful acts reached their apogee on Nov. 14 when Justice Alexandre de Moraes, in his role as elections chief, quickly declared the challenger, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the legitimate winner of the 2022 presidential elections.

(Continue reading the opinion essay on Lawfare’s page here.)