Joaquim Barbosa

Joaquim Barbosa, 2009

Joaquim Benedito Barbosa Gomes (born October 7, 1954 in Paracatu , Minas Gerais state , Brazil ) is a Brazilian lawyer and former judge. Appointed in 2012, he was the first Afro-Brazilian President of the Supreme Court of Brazil ( Supremo Tribunal Federal ) since it was founded 180 years ago. He is also one of the most famous members of the Afro-Brazilian community in Brazil. In 2014 he resigned from all offices.

In 2013 he was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Times Magazine .

Life

Joaquim Barbosa comes from the poorest of backgrounds. He was born one of eight children to a poor bricklayer and housewife who later divorced. At the age of sixteen he came to Brasília , where he initially earned his living in a laundry as a cleaner and as a printer for a newspaper and passed his high school diploma at a public school. This was followed by a degree in public law and law at the University of Brasília , completed with a doctorate in 1993 at the University of Panthéon-Assas in Paris .

From 1976 to 1979 he was employed as an assessor in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, which also earned him a stay abroad at the Brazilian embassy in Helsinki during this time . From 1984 to 2003 he worked as a public prosecutor, first in Brasilia, and later in Rio de Janeiro at the Public Prosecutor's Office .

In 2003 he was appointed judge at the Supreme Court of Brazil by then President Lula da Silva , because Lula wanted the presence of Afro-Brazilian lawyers to become normal. However, he was not the first black judge , but the third, after two predecessors at the turn of the century. In 2012 he was appointed the first black President of the Supreme Court by Lula's successor in the presidency, Dilma Rousseff .

A newspaper wrote after his appointment of the "poor boy who will change Brazil". Barbosa also stands for the self-image of a new, self-finding Brazil. In fact, Barbosa achieved an incredible social rise from the favelas to the head of a constitutional body , even for Brazil . Barbosa is considered to be one of the most honest and credible, and at the same time most popular personalities of the Brazilian public. He is very popular with all classes and ethnicities .

After several stays abroad in the USA , Great Britain , Austria and Germany , the lawyer speaks fluent French , English , Spanish and German . He has been playing the violin and piano since he was sixteen . He was visiting professor at Columbia University (1999/2000) and UCLA (2002/03).

In 2014, the lawyer surprisingly resigned from all public offices. On July 31, 2014, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff released him from the position of President of the Supreme Court of the Federal Republic of Brazil, and he also resigned from the post of judge, which he had held since 2003. Until November 22, 2014, he remained in office as Vice President, who he had also been since 2012, until his successor was settled. He was followed by Ricardo Lewandowski after in office. Barbosa had to leave all offices mainly for health reasons. Typically, these terms run until the judge is seventy.

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Web links

Commons : Joaquim Barbosa - Collection of images, videos and audio files

personal data
SURNAME	Barbosa, Joaquim
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Gomes, Joaquim Benedito Barbosa (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Brazilian lawyer and judge
DATE OF BIRTH	October 7, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH	Paracatu , Minas Gerais , Brazil