Brazil decide backs Rousseff opponents on impeachment committee

Holders of the Supreme Court also agreed that the vote of the members of that council must be open, not closed, as it happened last week.

In an 8-3 decision, the judges yesterday annulled an opposition-dominated impeachment commission established by secret ballot in the lower house last week and ordered the procedure be restarted in an open vote.

The speaker of the lower house, Eduardo Cunha, oversaw the controversial session to form the commission and is an architect of the impeachment drive.

Brazil’s supreme court has undone efforts to impeach President Dilma Rousseff.

In another decision helping Rousseff, the Supreme Court decided that the Senate has the right to reject the continuation of the impeachment process by a simple majority even if two thirds of the full lower house approves it. Rousseff has more support in the Senate than she does in the lower house.

The justices are also considering other questions surrounding the impeachment process, including challenges to the selection of a special committee that will advise the lower house how to vote on the matter. A trial could last six months.

Most observers think the president can at present muster the 171 lower house votes needed to quash the impeachment proceedings. Rousseff would then be tried earlier than the Senate, which might additionally require a two-thirds majority to take away her from workplace.

He would remain in power if the Senate impeaches Rousseff or resume the vice presidency if she is absolved.

The impeachment request is based on the allegation that Rousseff used accounting tricks to ramp-up spending beyond legal limits during her re-election campaign previous year. Some lawmakers said the vote to pick committee members last week was improper because it was conducted via secret ballot rather than publicly.

Demonstrators rally calling for the impeachment of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s at Pauli …

In a newspaper interview published on Thursday, Temer dismissed charges by Rousseff’s aides that he was conspiring behind the president’s back, though his party is split down the middle over supporting her.