The Week of April 13th, 2015

Care

1. Petrobras corruption scandal

João Vaccari Neto, the treasurer of Brazil’s governing Workers’ Party, was arrested in São Paulo on Wednesday in connection with the ongoing investigation into the Petrobras corruption scandal that has rocked South America’s largest country in recent weeks. Mr. Vaccari resigned from his post after his arrest. He is the most prominent figure arrested thus far in the investigation, which has also begun probing figures in Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s administration, including the president herself. More than 40 politicians are under investigation in total.

At the core of the investigation is an elaborate kickback scheme, which prosecutors have described as the biggest in Brazil’s history. They have identified more than $800 million in bribes paid out by construction and engineering firms in exchange for outsized contracts from Petrobras. Some of that money went directly to Brazil’s Workers’ Party, many of whose prominent members sat on the Petrobras board of directors, including Ms. Rousseff. Petrobras, controlled by the government, is the country’s largest company and a key driver of the Brazilian economy.

The latest arrest is a major development in the investigation and an important symbolic step for Brazil’s judicial system. Corruption has long plagued Brazilian politics, and while this scandal is the biggest one yet uncovered, it is by no means an anomaly. That federal prosecutors, who are conducting their investigation in the southern city of Curitiba, have investigated and arrested so many prominent political and business leaders has been seen as a positive sign for the independence of Brazil’s judiciary.

2. Obama requests removal of Cuba from state sponsors of terrorism list

The State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism has only four members: Sudan, Iran, Syria, and Cuba. On April 14th, President Obama announced that he has requested the removal of Cuba from the list. His request is largely a formality because it is his Secretary of State, John Kerry, who has the authority to remove Cuba. However, the move will be delayed for a review period of 45 days. During this period, Congress could pass a joint resolution to challenge the move. The Obama Administration claims to have carried out conscientious research into Cuba’s record and to have received assurances from the Cuban government on its practices and intentions.

Removing Cuba from the list would not fully unravel the US embargo on the country, and it would not remove the multitude of sanctions that comprise the Cuban embargo. The main effect of removal from the list will be allowing Cuba to tap into financial markets, thereby facilitating foreign business penetration into the Cuban market despite US business still being excluded by sanctions. But the mood in the US business community is already optimistic over eagerness to access the few business opportunities that skirt the sanctions. Already, companies have announced plans for direct flights between the US and Cuba and prepaid US cell phone service in Cuba. Many non-Americans also await reform eagerly. The former prime minister of Jamaica stated that trade liberalization could be a boon to the whole Caribbean economy. Pope Francis is apparently considering a trip to Cuba the next time he comes to the Americas. Change is certainly in the air.

Some onlookers have reacted to the creeping liberalization of relations with Cuba by urging travel to Cuba before its picturesque streets are changed by a wave of globalization, but others may debate the morality of finding charm in poverty.

3. Trial backlogs

Although the Bill of Rights guarantees the right to a fair and speedy trial, many cases around the country are being delayed for egregious periods of time. In New York, Kalief Browder was arrested in 2010 when he was only 16 years old. He was charged with robbery and sent to Rikers Island, where he suffered from solitary confinement and eventually attempted suicide. It took three years for his case to be dismissed, during which time he remained in the prison. Another man, Ralph Berry, was accused of murder in the same year and spent a similar amount of time awaiting trial, only for the charges to be dropped. While New York state law says that defendants must face trial within 180 days, the Bronx stretches this limit to 1,018 days, or around three years. New York is not the only state where this is occurring: tragic cases like this are transpiring in over 15 states across the country.

What is contributing to this problem, and more than likely causing it, is the widespread judicial vacancies across the country. Local, state, and federal judicial positions are at historically low occupancy rates, causing a criminal backlog that is unfairly impacting low-income and minority defendants. Since they cannot afford the (often pricey) bail rate, they must remain in jail. Thankfully, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio is taking action, as he implemented a plan to prioritize the cases of 1,500 individuals who have been held for over a year. An obvious solution is to fill these vacancies, but whether or not that will occur is nebulous.

4. Utility rules announced by FCC

The Federal Communications Commission officially published its long-awaited network neutrality rules last Monday, kicking off a firestorm of litigation, as industry groups representing Internet service providers prepare lawsuits. If the lawsuits are successful, they could strip the FCC of its legal authority to establish strong net neutrality protections.

Net neutrality rules accomplish two things: they prohibit broadband and mobile carriers from selectively slowing web traffic, and they also reclassify broadband as a regulated telecom service, rather than as a lightly regulated information service, as has been the case of the past decade.

While they won’t be required to spell out their legal arguments until later in the litigation process, industry groups hope to directly attack the foundation of FCC’s net neutrality rules: the decision to treat Internet access like a public utility. Industry groups say this goes beyond the authority Congress gave to the FCC. But for the FCC, treating the Internet like a public utility is essential for the tough rules they want to enact.

Most commentators seem to think the industry’s arguments are unlikely to uphold in court, mostly because of a 2005 Supreme Court decision which granted the FCC significant latitude in deciding how best to apply an ambiguous law to a fast-changing industry. Moreover, three of the dissenting justices from that decision believed the law actually required Internet service from cable companies to be regulated as a public utility. And two of those three judges, Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, are still on the court. With that in mind, it seems like it will be tough for the industry groups to convince the court that the FCC is overstepping its boundaries.

5. Family feud in French FN

Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of France’s National Front, is no longer running in regional elections after making controversial comments to the media.

Mr. Le Pen, a current MEP and regional councillor for the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (PACA) region, has caused trouble for his party after describing the Holocaust as "a detail" of World War II. In another interview, he defended Philippe Pétain, a Nazi collaborator during the war, as being unfairly depicted in history. He also criticized the state of France for being governed by immigrants and pointed to Manuel Valls, who is the current Prime Minister and is of Spanish descent, as an example.

Mr. Le Pen's daughter Marine Le Pen is the current leader of the National Front and is set to run for president in 2017. The party has been trying to gain more mainstream support, and Ms. Le Pen has been trying to diminish the racist image of her party for years in order to make the party seem less extreme.

As part of these efforts, Ms. Le Pen has condemned her father for these ill-considered public comments, which will surely damage the reputation of the party as well as her campaign for president. As a result, Mr. Le Pen has announced to The Figaro that he would not be running again in the PACA region. He stated that his granddaughter, and Marine's niece, 25 year old Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, would be a good candidate to take his place.

Don’t Care

0. Gyrocopter lands on White House lawn

In yet another incredibly strange story about a Florida man, last week a 61-year-old postman landed his personal gyrocopter, a small helicopter-like machine, on Capitol Hill. Doug Hughes, a resident of Ruskin, Florida, brought his gyrocopter to Maryland and then flew over to Washington, DC. In keeping with his profession, Mr. Hughes planned to “deliver the mail” to each member of Congress demanding reform in campaign finance. Had Mr. Hughes flown any further before landing, Secret Service would have been prepared to shoot him down, according to Michael McCaul, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. Access to airspace around the capital is highly restricted, especially since 9/11.

Aside from the almost laughable lack of communication between the DC Secret Service, its Florida office, other security forces around the capital, and a newspaper in Florida that had been following Mr. Hughes’s plans, this incident highlights some serious issues in American politics. Mr. Hughes’s message, that excessive money in politics is harmful to the democratic process, is a serious issue for the American political system to come to terms with. That it took a mailman in a gyrocopter risking his life to bring the debate to the fore is a somewhat worrying reality in our low-attention-span society. Mr. Hughes remarked to the officers arresting him, “There’s no need to worry – I’m just delivering the mail.”

David Gernon, Liam Conway-Pearson, Will Kirkland, Monika Hur, and Sam Houskeeper contributed