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I have met several members of Brazil's Supreme Court (STF) over the years, and known some of them well. In my opinion, the court's current problems go deeper than any one figure or the lack of a code of ethics, for example. In practice, the STF acts not just as a judicial body, but as the defense of last resort for the interests of the Brazilian elite. It provides insurance against the whims of unenlightened elected leaders, a "moderating" role that the Brazilian military used to exercise but has effectively been taken by the STF under democracy. That's why the STF has powers that arguably exceed that of any other country's Supreme Court. It is the only body that can try congressmen or other protected classes ("foro privilegiado"), and individual judges often seem more powerful than the president of the nation. Some judges told me directly in recent years that they were forced to occupy an expanded role because of the dysfunction of the executive and legislative, especially in the years following Dilma's impeachment. Sometimes I have detected a noble, statesman-like impulse (yes, truly), and I do agree that the STF helped protect or even save Brazilian democracy at various junctures in recent years. But in practice such power also corrupts and that, plus the natural public anger at unelected, unaccountable leaders making epochal decisions, has led the STF to its current juncture. I am not a jurist, so I cannot speculate as to the best path forward, and I recognize for the record that the U.S. court is also under unprecedented scrutiny. But some of this is very sui generis Brazil, rooted in decades or centuries of how power is exercised and concentrated in a few hands, and thus feel it will be difficult to truly resolve.