Janja da Silva attends STF hearing on Brazil’s MP das Bets as Luiz Fux receives report and photo

Brazil’s first lady, Janja da Silva, showed up at a Supreme Federal Court hearing on Tuesday (3) about Medida Provisória 1.394/2026, which bans fixed-odds betting in the country. For high-risk operators, the detail that matters is not the photo op; it is the optics of political pressure entering an active case on online betting.

1. Luiz Fux had called the public hearing to discuss Medida Provisória 1.394/2026, the measure that prohibits fixed-odds betting in Brazil. Janja was not on the list of speakers, but she attended the hearing anyway, accompanied by Mariana Ribeiro and lobbyist Paula Lavigne.
2. She handed Fux a report titled “Mulheres e Bets, o custo das apostas online para as brasileiras e suas famílias”, produced by Estúdio Clarice, then posed for photos and later posted the whole sequence on Instagram. Her message was that “proibir as Bets é proteger a saúde, a renda e a dignidade das famílias brasileiras.”
3. The article’s central point is institutional, not personal: Janja holds no elected mandate, no public office, and no constitutional assignment. In that sense, she is the president’s wife, not a representative with a formal role in the process. The Union was already represented by the AGU and the minister of justice.
4. That is why her presence matters for the betting industry. The hearing concerned a measure signed by her husband’s government, so her appearance before the rapporteur can be read as an attempt to influence an ongoing judicial review. If she spoke as a private citizen, the official photo made little sense; if she acted as an extension of the Palace, she was doing something no voter authorized.
5. The article also flags the judge’s side of the equation. By receiving the report from Janja and posing for photographs that immediately circulated online, Fux created a record that may follow any later ruling on the case. The text cites the Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct, endorsed by the UN, and notes that item 1.3 requires a judge not only to be free from improper connections with the executive, but also to appear free from them.