Brazil named its new chief justice on Sunday and in a historic first, the judge chosen to serve as president of the Supreme Court is Jewish.
This is the second time Luiz Fux, 67, makes history in the Brazilian judiciary: In 2011 he became the first Jewish judge to be named to the bench at the Federal Supreme Court.
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Brazil rotates the post of chief justice among the 11 members comprising its Federal Supreme Court – a panel that decides constitutional matters as well as final appeals – every two years.
"I will always strive for moral values, republican values, [and] the struggle for democracy. May God protect me," Fux was quoted by JTA as saying.
Born in Rio de Janeiro, Fux is of Romanian Jewish descent. His grandparents fled Romania during World War II and his grandmother is a former president of the Israelite Children's Home in Rio.
Fernando Lottenberg, president of the Brazilian Israelite Confederation, lauded the appointment, telling JTA, "It's a great pride for the Brazilian Jewish community to have Luiz Fux at the head of the Supreme Court.
"He has deep legal knowledge and well-known humanism, in line with the Jewish tradition of valuing knowledge and life."
Fux's 2011 appointment opened the door to the naming of another Jewish judge, Luis Roberto Barroso, to Brazil's Supreme Court in 2013. Last month, Barroso was named president of the country's Superior Electoral Court.
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