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STF institutional crisis

The 2026 dispute among Supreme Federal Court justices over the Banco Master case and rapporteurs' conduct, with investigation requests, procedural challenges, review requests and postponed judgments that started to weigh on the country's institutional risk.

4articles
7material mentions
3connections

Last 90 days

What sources are saying

On September 17, 2026 Supreme Court president Edson Fachin removed from the docket the September 23 session that would examine the request to investigate André Mendonça's conduct as rapporteur of the Master case, citing Gilmar Mendes's procedural question interrupted by Flávio Dino's review request with a 4 to 3 score.

Updated September 23, 2026 · 4 verified articles

Market transmission

Why it matters

Instability at the top of the judiciary raises Brazil's risk premium: it pressures long rates and the currency, delays rulings that affect listed companies and taints foreign investors' reading of legal certainty.

Explanatory mechanism, not a forecast or recommendation.

Articles in chronological order

04
MACROBrazil

Gilmar Mendes proposes taking the multibillion dispute between sugar mills and the federal government over the defunct IAA to the Supreme Court full bench after the Vorcaro case

Justice Gilmar Mendes filed on September 22 a motion for the Supreme Court Second Panel to send to the full bench the dispute over compensation to the sugar and ethanol sector for price controls by the defunct Sugar and Alcohol Institute; the motion will be examined in a virtual session from September 25 to October 2. The goal is to standardize the requirement of individual expert proof of loss, set in a 2020 general repercussion ruling, across cases such as those of the Alcídia, Raízen and Jalles Machado mills. The impact is estimated at R$ 103.4 billion in the 2026 Budget Guidelines Law, according to Money Times, and up to R$ 145 billion, according to Gazeta do Povo. The move follows messages from Daniel Vorcaro, whose Banco Master bought Alcídia court-ordered payments, criticizing the justice stance against the payments.

3 sourcesSep 22, 2026
MACROBrazil

Moraes is drawn as rapporteur at the Supreme Court of a request for Senate entry records of Vorcaro and of his own wife

Justice Alexandre de Moraes was drawn on September 21 as rapporteur at the Supreme Court of a writ filed by Curitiba city councilman Guilherme Kilter (Novo) seeking access to Senate entry records of Daniel Vorcaro, owner of Banco Master, of Viviane Barci de Moraes, the justice wife, of Fábio Luís Lula da Silva and of Antônio Carlos Camilo Antunes. The request came after the Senate denied access under the Freedom of Information Law, and the case was originally filed in federal court in Paraná. According to CNN Brasil, Moraes may declare himself suspect or disqualified and ask Chief Justice Edson Fachin for a new draw.

3 sourcesSep 21, 2026
MACROBrazil

Video shows Moraes leaving a Prime Aviation jet linked to Vorcaro, and his wife's law firm denies any personal tie

A video released on September 20 by Lauro Jardim's column at O Globo shows Justice Alexandre de Moraes and his wife, Viviane Barci, disembarking on August 22, 2025 from a Prime Aviation aircraft, a company that had Daniel Vorcaro as a partner. The Barci de Moraes law firm, which provided services to Banco Master, said it hires air taxis from different companies on operational criteria, with no personal tie, and that Vorcaro was never on the flights. On March 31 Moraes had said in a statement he had never flown on a Vorcaro plane; the Federal Police identified at least eight flights between May and October 2025.

3 sourcesSep 20, 2026
MACROBrazil

Fachin cancels the September 23 trial on Mendonça conduct in the Master case and sets no new date

Supreme Court president Edson Fachin removed from the docket on September 17 the September 23 session that would examine the request to investigate André Mendonça conduct as rapporteur of the Master case. The decision cites the direct link to the procedural question raised by Gilmar Mendes on September 15, whose judgment was interrupted by Flávio Dino request for review with a 4 to 3 score. The Federal Police scheduled the depositions of Daniel and Henrique Vorcaro for September 30.

5 sourcesSep 17, 2026