Brazil's top court suspends vote on Indigenous land rights

A Brazilian Supreme Court Justice has requested additional time to review a controversial ruling that could loosen protections of Indigenous lands, which may leave the decision to Congress

RIO DE JANEIRO -- A Brazilian Supreme Court justice on Wednesday requested additional time to review a controversial ruling that could loosen protections of Indigenous lands, which may in effect leave the decision to Congress.

The top court is evaluating a ruling that invalidated a claim by some Indigenous people in Santa Catarina state to what they say is their ancestral territory. It has prompted thousands of Indigenous people to travel and stage protests in capital Brasilia, worried about the precedent upholding the lower court's ruling would set.

So far, only two justices have ruled: one in favor of upholding the decision, and one against.

Environmental experts and Indigenous activists said the request for review from Justice Alexandre de Moraes, while not unusual, is likely to pass the buck to Congress. The Supreme Court's internal guidelines dictate that de Moraes has a maximum 60 days to review the case. But Juliana Batista, a lawyer at the nonprofit Socioenvironmental Institute, said justices rarely comply with this timeframe.