Kagan Warns on Supreme Court's Standing; Brazil Justice Extends Runoff Voting Hours

Brazilian Supreme Federal Tribunal Justice Cristiano Zanin issued a ruling on Sunday extending voting by two hours in the country's presidential runoff, in which President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was reelected to a fourth term over conservative Senator Flávio Bolsonaro. Some polling stations closed at 7:00 p.m. local time instead of the 5:00 p.m. set by electoral rules, and the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE) extended the hours and delayed the vote tally. Local outlets reported that the order applied only to stations not yet closed when it was issued. Zanin was previously Lula's personal lawyer in the corruption trial in which Lula was found guilty. Bolsonaro won the October 4 first round without reaching 50 percent. Lula's win was the first in about four decades by a candidate who lost the first round. Separately, in the United States, Justice Elena Kagan gave a speech at Catholic University's law school in Washington last week, a couple of weeks before the midterms. She warned that the Supreme Court is undermining democratic governance and said the public has lost confidence in it.

Right-leaning Breitbart focuses on Brazil. Its headline and opening stress that Zanin was Lula's personal lawyer, call the ruling unprecedented and sudden, and describe Lula as socialist. It also notes the limits on the order that local outlets reported. Left-leaning Slate and Raw Story cover a different event, Kagan's speech. Slate presents a conversation between Dahlia Lithwick and Madiba K. Dennie, and says the public's loss of confidence is justified. Raw Story calls the speech a rare public rebuke that left court watchers staggered. The two sides share no facts, because they report different events, and their only link is that each concerns a high-court justice. Alternative and independent outlets had not reported this story at the time of writing, while left- and right-leaning outlets had.