BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRO-BRAZILIAN SUPREME FEDRAL COURT JUDGE - JOAQUIM BENEDITO BARBOSA GOMES : GOES INTO THE "HALL OF BLACK GENIUS"

BLACK  SOCIAL   HISTORY                                                                                                                                                          Joaquim Benedito Barbosa Gomes Paracatu, Minas Gerais, Brazil is a justice minister of the Supreme Federal Court in Brazil. He is currently the president

of the court.
Although many people believe he is the first black descendent to become justice minister in Brazilian Supreme Court, he is actually the third one. He was preceded by:

• Hermenegildo de Barros (from 1919 to 1937)
• Pedro Lessa (from 1907 to 1921)

However, Brazil does not adopt the "one-drop rule", also known as "one black ancestor rule", and therefore, in this country, he is considered the first black justice minister in Brazilian Supreme Court.
Minister Barbosa studied Law at University of Brasília (1979). He holds a Master (1990) and a Doctor (1993) of Laws from DEA - Droit Public Interne - Pantheon-Assas University. Barbosa was a member of the Federal Public Ministry and Adjunct Professor at Rio de Janeiro State University. He was also a visiting scholar at the Human Rights Institute at Columbia Law School, in New York (1999 to 2000), and at UCLA School of Law (2002 to 2003).
Aside from his notable academic achievements, Minister Barbosa also became fluent in French, Spanish, English and German.
In 2013, he was elected by Time magazine one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
He has humble origins. He is the oldest son of a bricklayer father and a housewife mother. He started his education in the Brazilian public school system in his hometown, lately completed in Brasília.
He worked as a cleaner and in a printer before to attend the Law School at the University of Brasília
Lately, he served as chancery official for Itamaraty, a public servant for some Brazilian departments, and lately as a public prosecutor of the Public Ministry.

BLACK  SOCIAL HISTORY                                                Supreme Federal Court Justice

He has been appointed to that office by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, assuming on June 25, 2003 along with his peers Ayres Britto and Cezar Peluso.
Among many other actions, he is the judge rapporteur for Criminal Action 470 (also known as Mensalão scandal) and his further development, the Criminal Action 536 (also known as Mensalão mineiro).
As of November 2012, he has 8,460 actions under his responsibility being processed by the Court.
Barbosa suffers from sacroiliitis, an inflammatory disease, which makes very uncomfortable to him to remain seated. Therefore it is very common to see him attending the sessions standing up, or seated in a special chair to relief his pain.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  BLACK  SOCIAL HISTORY         -     Chief Justice of Brazil
He took the office as the acting president of the court in November 17, 2012 because of the mandatory retirement of his colleague Ayres Britto, as he was the current vice-president of the Court. However he was already the President Elect of the Court as chosen by his fellows on October 2012, keeping the tradition the oldest member not served yet as President to be elected to that position.
He is the first black man to take the oath as the Chief Justice of Brazil. (Although the main fact on his inauguration was not exactly his race but his humble origin instead.) His tenure start in November 22, 2012 was attended by President Dilma Rousseff, Senate President José Sarney, among many other celebrities.
The welcoming speech has been delivered by Justice Luiz Fux.