Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on 10 July formally nominated two women to top courts, selecting Maria Marluce Caldas Bezerra for the Superior Tribunal de Justiça (STJ) and Estela Aranha for the Tribunal Superior Eleitoral (TSE). Lula also reconfirmed Floriano de Azevedo Marques for a second two-year term as an effective minister at the TSE. Caldas, a career prosecutor in Alagoas and aunt of Maceió’s mayor João Henrique Caldas (PL), was chosen from a shortlist compiled by the STJ last year. Her appointment would fill the seat vacated by Justice Laurita Vaz. Aranha, a lawyer who previously served in the Justice Ministry and is considered an ally of Supreme Court Justice Flávio Dino, emerged from an all-female shortlist prepared by the TSE. The nominations will be sent to the Senate’s Constitution and Justice Committee for hearings and must be approved by the full chamber before the appointments are published in the Diário Oficial da União and the new ministers can take office.