When justice runs in the family

Relatives of Brazil's Supreme Court justices have appeared in 1,925 cases across the country's two highest courts, according to a recent survey by news outlet UOL, which exposes a practice that, though legal, raises serious questions about conflicts of interest at the pinnacle of the Brazilian justice system.

The investigation identified 14 first-degree relatives of Supreme Court justices — their children, spouses, ex-spouses and siblings — working as lawyers in cases before the Supreme Court and the Superior Court of Justice (STJ). Of these cases, 382 remain active and await final decisions.

Collectively, relatives' caseloads at the Supreme Court jumped from 80 to 170 after their family members joined the bench, while their cases at the STJ surged from 278 to 1,394. Among the best examples of this is Rodrigo Fux, son of Justice Luiz Fux, who had just one Supreme Court case and four STJ cases before his father’s 2011 appointment. Those numbers later swelled to 48 and 496, respectively.