The essentials
The next president will appoint at least three Supreme Court justices, and Flávio Bolsonaro has pledged amnesty and judicial reform.
The winner of the October 25 runoff will appoint at least three of the 11 justices on Brazil's Supreme Court, placing the next president at the center of the court's composition.
The judiciary has become a point of contrast in the final stretch. Flávio Bolsonaro has pledged to push for judicial reform and has said that, if elected, he would seek amnesty for his father, Jair Bolsonaro, who was sentenced over an alleged coup attempt.
Lula's own history with the courts is also part of the campaign record. He spent more than a year in prison on corruption convictions that were later annulled.
The available reporting does not detail the specific form of the proposed judicial reform or the legal mechanism an amnesty would require, and it does not indicate how the court would respond to either measure.
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Next president's picks could reshape Brazil's Supreme Court bench
Supreme Court appointments are a durable lever of presidential power, since the next president will fill at least three of the 11 seats. The composition of the bench shapes how future disputes between the executive and the judiciary are decided. Flávio Bolsonaro's pledge of judicial reform and his stated plan to seek amnesty for his father place the court at the heart of how voters may weigh the choice.
Amnesty pledge and past prison term place courts at campaign's core
From this angle, the runoff is also a contest over how Brazil's courts treat cases tied to each candidate. Flávio Bolsonaro has pledged to seek amnesty for his father, whose coup-related sentence is central to the family's legal situation. Lula spent more than a year in prison before his corruption convictions were annulled, giving him his own experience of judicial proceedings. Each candidate's legal history may inform how voters view the judiciary's role.