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Frank
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Section 1. National Emergency. As President of the United States, my highest duty is protecting the national security, foreign policy, and economy of this country. Recent policies, practices, and actions of the Government of Brazil threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. Members of the Government of Brazil have taken actions that interfere with the economy of the United States, infringe the free expression rights of United States persons, violate human rights, and undermine the interest the United States has in protecting its citizens and companies. Members of the Government of Brazil are also politically persecuting a former President of Brazil, which is contributing to the deliberate breakdown in the rule of law in Brazil, to politically motivated intimidation in that country, and to human rights abuses.
Recently, members of the Government of Brazil have taken unprecedented actions that harm and are a threat to the economy of the United States, conflict with and threaten the policy of the United States to promote free speech and free and fair elections at home and abroad, and violate fundamental human rights. Indeed, certain Brazilian officials have issued orders to compel United States online platforms to censor the accounts or content of United States persons, where such accounts or content are protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution within the United States; block the ability of United States persons to raise money on their platforms; change their content moderation policies, enforcement practices, or algorithms in ways that may result in the censorship of the content and accounts of United States persons; and provide the user data of accounts belonging to United States persons, facilitating the targeting of political critics in the United States.
For example, Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has abused his judicial authority to target political opponents, shield corrupt allies, and suppress dissent, often in coordination with other Brazilian officials. Justice de Moraes has authorized politically motivated police raids, arrests, and bank account freezes. He has also authorized the confiscation of passports, jailed individuals without trial for social media posts, opened unprecedented criminal investigations, including into United States citizens for their constitutionally protected speech in the United States, and issued secret orders to United States social media companies to censor thousands of posts and de-platform dozens of political critics, including United States persons, for lawful speech on United States soil. When United States and United States-headquartered companies have refused to comply with his unlawful censorship demands, Justice de Moraes has imposed substantial fines on United States and United States-headquartered companies, ordered the suspension of United States and United States-headquartered companies in Brazil, and threatened United States and United States-headquartered company executives with criminal prosecution. In fact, Justice de Moraes is currently overseeing the Government of Brazil’s criminal prosecution of a United States resident for speech he made on United States soil.
These judicial actions, taken under the pretext of combatting “disinformation,” “fake news,” or “anti-democratic” or “hateful” content, endanger the economy of the United States by tyrannically and arbitrarily coercing United States companies to censor political speech, turn over sensitive United States user data, or change their content moderation policies on pain of extraordinary fines, criminal prosecution, asset freezes, or complete exclusion from the Brazilian market. These actions also chill and limit expression in the United States, violate human rights, and undermine the interest that the United States has in protecting its citizens and companies at home and abroad.
Brazilian officials are also persecuting former President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro. The Government of Brazil has unjustly charged Bolsonaro with multiple crimes related to Bolsonaro’s 2022 runoff election, and the Supreme Court of Brazil has misguidedly ruled that Bolsonaro must stand trial for these unjustified criminal charges. Political persecution, through drummed up prosecutions, threatens the orderly development of Brazil’s political, administrative, and economic institutions, including undermining the ability of Brazil to hold a free and fair election of the presidency in 2026. The Government of Brazil’s treatment of former President Bolsonaro also contributes to the deliberate breakdown in the rule of law in Brazil, to politically motivated intimidation in that country, and to human rights abuses.
I find that the unprecedented actions taken by the Government of Brazil have violated the free expression rights of United States persons, interfered with the economy of the United States by coercing United States and United States-headquartered companies to censor United States persons for speech protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution on pain of extraordinary fines, criminal prosecution, asset freezes, or complete exclusion from the Brazilian market, subverted the interest of the United States in protecting its citizens and companies, undermined the rule of law in Brazil, and jeopardized the orderly development of Brazil’s political, administrative, and economic institutions.
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