Brazil TSE to review minister's order on Our Lady posts

The Superior Electoral Court (TSE) will hold a virtual plenary session on Wednesday to review Justice André Mendonça's order requiring platforms to remove posts that treat as true the false claim that presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro would strip Our Lady of Aparecida of her title as Brazil's patron saint. Mendonça acted preventively against what he called "notoriously false" content.

The decision triggered conflicting rulings at the Supreme Court (STF). On Sunday, Justice Flávio Dino overturned Mendonça's order, citing risks to freedom of expression. On Monday, Justice Luiz Fux reinstated it, arguing the TSE has the final word on electoral matters. Both referred their injunctions to the full STF, but Chief Justice Edson Fachin has not scheduled the case.

“The TSE has the "final word" on electoral matters.”

Fachin faces pressure to manage the institutional crisis days before the first round of elections. Some justices advised against taking the dispute to an in-person plenary session, fearing it would expose internal divisions rather than resolve them. Fachin completed one year as STF president on Tuesday.

TSE President Kassio Nunes Marques scheduled Wednesday's virtual session after Mendonça released the matter for plenary review. Two TSE justices said an earlier collegiate judgment could have contained the escalation by making it harder for Dino to overturn a decision already set for collective analysis.