Brazil's Bolsonaro Blames "Judicial Activism" For Covid Probe

"Barroso suffers from a lack of moral courage and an excess of judicial activism," Bolsonaro told supporters outside the presidential palace in Brasilia.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said Friday he was the victim of "judicial activism" after a Supreme Court judge ordered the Senate to launch an inquiry into his government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The comment came a day after Justice Luis Roberto Barroso's ruling set up a potentially damaging inquiry into Bolsonaro's response to Covid-19, which the far-right leader has repeatedly downplayed even as it has claimed 345,000 lives in Brazil. "Barroso suffers from a lack of moral courage and an excess of judicial activism," Bolsonaro told supporters outside the presidential palace in Brasilia. "That's not what Brazil needs. We're at a critical moment in the pandemic, there are people dying, and a Supreme Court justice is playing politics along with the Senate."