Brazil’s Supreme Court opened its new term amid an escalating dispute with Washington after the United States imposed Global Magnitsky sanctions on Justice Alexandre de Moraes, froze any assets he may hold in the U.S. financial system, revoked his visa and slapped a 50% tariff on Brazilian exports. The Trump administration accuses Moraes of arbitrary detentions and curbing free speech while he oversees the criminal case against former president Jair Bolsonaro. Addressing the court in Brasília on Friday, Moraes said he would “ignore the sanctions” and continue presiding over the coup-plot trial, which he expects to conclude later this year. He warned that the penalties sought by Bolsonaro’s supporters, including the former president’s son Eduardo, aim to trigger an economic crisis and intimidate the judiciary. Chief Justice Luís Roberto Barroso and senior justice Gilmar Mendes defended their colleague, calling the U.S. measures cowardly and an affront to Brazil’s sovereignty. Mendes described Eduardo Bolsonaro’s lobbying as an act of ‘lesa-pátria’, while Barroso praised Moraes’s “bravery and personal cost” in handling politically sensitive investigations. Moraes told government officials at a dinner hosted by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva that he will not seek immediate legal relief in U.S. courts, preferring a political and diplomatic response. The Foreign Ministry said it is preparing a proportional reaction while reaffirming that the Supreme Court’s calendar—and its verdict on Bolsonaro—will proceed without foreign interference.