Lula’s Supreme Court pick finally heads to the Senate

Four months after announcing his pick, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has finally formally notified the Senate of his Supreme Court nomination. But now comes the hard part.

When Lula revealed last November that he would nominate Solicitor General Jorge Messias to fill a vacancy on the 11-member court, the reaction in the Senate — which has to confirm all such appointments — was frosty. Davi Alcolumbre, the Senate’s president, had been aggressively pushing for a different name: his predecessor, Rodrigo Pacheco.

When Lula ignored Alcolumbre's pleas and made the Messias pick public on November 20, the Senate president moved against him, initially scheduling the confirmation hearing for December 10 — not enough time for Messias to complete the traditional ring-kissing tour of senators’ offices to gather support.