“Again, there is no liberty, if the judiciary power be not separated from the legislative and executive. Were it joined with the legislative, the life and liberty of the subject would be exposed to arbitrary control; for the judge would be then the legislator. Were it joined to the executive power, the judge might behave with violence and oppression.”
- Montesquieu [The Spirit of the Laws, I.XI.6]
Political power in Brazil has become dangerously concentrated in the hands of one man, but it isn’t a top general or the President Lula da Silva. Instead, it is Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is trampling the liberties of the Brazilian people in a war against what he considers to be disinformation. According to de Moraes, Brazil’s “fragile democracy” is threatened by what he calls “digital militias” and the only solution is…
