Usually done without any problems, the choice of the new member of the Constitutional Court (TC), the highest court in Portugal, is immersed in controversy. In recent weeks, controversial statements made by the nominee, university professor António Manuel Almeida Costa, 66, have come to light.
He has signed texts in which he claims to be against abortion in almost all situations, including rape cases. He also defended, in a hearing at the Superior Council of the Public Ministry, limitations on freedom of the press and punishments for journalists who disclose information under judicial secrecy.
The TC is made up of 13 judges, who serve nine-year terms without the possibility of reappointment. Ten of the magistrates are nominated by Parliament, in a process in which there is scope for public scrutiny sessions – as is the case in the US and Brazil, where candidates are nominated by the president. The remaining three are chosen by the court judges themselves, in the case of Almeida Costa.
This internal process is usually done away from the public eye, without hearings with the nominees. Thus, the name of the new member is only made public when the choice has already been made. This time, however, Almeida Costa’s nomination was leaked to the press, in a clear sign of discontent in the court — as in the revelation of the US Supreme Court’s draft votes to reverse abortion rights, the leak seems to be a way of calling out attention to the topic and try to change the picture.
To be approved, Almeida Costa needs at least seven votes. As he was nominated by the five judges most to the right of the court, he still had to win two endorsements. Although three judges further to the left have already expressed their rejection of the professor, approval is taken for granted by the local press.
On Friday (27), the newspaper Expresso also highlighted the professor’s positions regarding the limitation of press freedom. According to the publication, in a hearing of the Superior Council of the Public Ministry, Almeida Costa accused the deputies of unwillingness to punish journalists who reveal information protected under judicial secrecy. The candidate for the TC stated that the press takes refuge in defending the secrecy of sources to violate the legal mechanism. In addition to contradicting the understanding of the European Court of Human Rights, freedom of the press is enshrined in the Portuguese Constitution.
Special attention to the ideological composition of the TC’s members takes place at a time when, in the US, the expansion of the Supreme Court’s right-wing bias should mean the end of the legal support that guarantees access to voluntary termination of pregnancy in the country. In Portugal, abortion was decriminalized in 2007, after a referendum, and today it can be performed, by the woman’s decision, up to ten weeks of pregnancy.
The issue is not part of the current agenda of the country’s judicial and political agenda, but another civil rights issue should soon be analyzed by the Constitutional Court: the legalization of euthanasia.
Considered by his peers to be quite conservative, Almeida Costa signed an article in the magazine of the Bar Association in which he argued that abortion should not be allowed even in the case of rape — the only exception would be a situation where the pregnant woman is at risk of imminent death.
According to the text, data would indicate that cases of pregnancy after rape are rare. The references, however, involve only works considered without credibility in the scientific community, many of which are linked to movements against the right to abortion in the USA.
The article was published in 1984, and in 1995 the professor signed another text in which he defends the prohibition of the interruption of pregnancy in all circumstances: “No one will doubt that intrauterine life occupies, in the hierarchy of the Basic Law, a superior position, both physical health or the mental health of the pregnant woman, or to the two interests that govern eugenic and ethical or criminological indications”.
Asked about the ideas in the articles and the current opinion, Almeida Costa said that the text “is signed and has a date”. “The legal-cultural matrix is the same.” Voting for the nomination will take place on Tuesday (31).
