Brazil's top court suspends impeachment of President Rousseff

Brazil's Supreme Court has suspended impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff until it rules on a secret vote that stacked a congressional committee with opponents trying to oust her.

The decision late on Tuesday by a judge appointed by the president has stopped the creation of the committee until Brazil`s top court can meet on Dec. 16 to decide whether the unprecedented secret ballot was valid.

The ruling was a reprieve for Rousseff because a court decision could favor her situation by curbing the power of her nemesis, lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha. Cunha, who himself faces a possible congressional investigation on corruption charges, began the impeachment proceedings last week based on an opposition accusation that Rousseff broke Brazil's budget laws.

The delay could also give Rousseff's opponents more time to mobilize public sentiment against an unpopular president who is besieged by recession and a graft scandal that has ensnared dozens of her allies less than a year into her second term.

Justice Luiz Edson Fachin, whom Rousseff appointed to the court in June, said in his decision that the suspension of the impeachment proceedings was needed "to avoid acts that could eventually be invalidated by the Supreme Court."


At: http://buenosairesherald.com/article/204659/brazils-top-court-suspends-impeachment-of-rousseff