Brazil's Supreme Court voted 8-2 to shut down the congressional investigation into INSS pension fraud, which had extended into the Banco Master banking scandal and potentially threatened two sitting justices. The majority ruled that extending a congressional inquiry is a prerogative of the legislature, not the judiciary, and the investigation expanded into the scandal's implications. The CPMI, a joint congressional inquiry commission, must cease operations by Saturday, March 28. The ruling effectively ends the most politically charged investigation in Brasília, with opposition lawmakers accusing the court of protecting the justices' interests. The court's longest-serving member, Justice Gilmar Mendes, called the leak "criminal" and "abominable".