BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazil’s Supreme Court Justice Dias Toffoli on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by President Jair Bolsonaro against justice Alexandre de Moraes, saying there was no fair cause for it to go forward, according to a decision reviewed by Reuters.
Bolsonaro announced late on Tuesday he was suing Moraes for abuse of authority, citing alleged “attacks on democracy,” marking the latest episode in a running showdown between the president and the court that could spill into the country’s upcoming presidential election.
“Considering that the facts reported initially evidently do not constitute a crime and that there is no fair cause for the continuity of the case, I deny further action,” Justice Toffoli said in the document.
The far-right leader said on Tuesday his lawsuit was supported by Moraes’ “unjustified” probe into the president’s role in the alleged sharing of disinformation, as well as an investigation into the Bolsonaro’s accusations against the country’s voting system.
The president, who is up for re-election in October, has repeatedly cast doubt about the integrity of the upcoming vote.
(Reporting by Ricardo Brito; Writing by Gabriel Araujo and Peter Frontini; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
