Supreme Court justice closes ‘gilded cage’ loophole

For decades, Brazilian judges caught misbehaving would face what passed for the judiciary’s harshest possible punishment: forced retirement … with a lifetime salary. On Monday, Supreme Court Justice Flávio Dino ruled to put an end to the farce.

Ruling on a case brought by a Rio de Janeiro state judge, Dino declared that mandatory retirement can no longer serve as a disciplinary sanction. He reasoned that the 2019 pension reform effectively stripped the punishment of its constitutional basis. Serious judicial misconduct must now lead to actual dismissal: the loss of a job and the salary that comes with it, not a comfortable exit.

In his ruling, Dino also told Chief Justice Edson Fachin, who doubles up as head of the National Justice Council (CNJ), the judiciary’s watchdog, to evaluate whether the court system’s entire disciplinary framework needs an overhaul to conform with the Constitution. The CNJ has retired 126 judges for wrongdoing since 2006 — and there are currently 52 active disciplinary proceedings pending before the body.