Brazil's supreme court to debate impeachment petition against interim president

Women shout slogans during a protest against Brazil's interim President Michel Temer and in support of suspended President Dilma Rousseff at Paulista Avenue in Sao Paulo, Brazil, May 17, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Brazil's Federal Supreme Court (STF) on Tuesday said it was analyzing a legal petition to open impeachment proceedings against interim President Michel Temer.

Supreme Court Judge Marco Aurelio Mello said the full court will debate the petition filed by lawyer Mariel Marley Marra, alleging Temer violated the law last year when he signed four decrees to modify the state budget, without the prior approval of Congress.

The petition had been struck down earlier this year by the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Congress.

President of the supreme court Ricardo Lewandowski now has to set a date for the deliberation.

The move represents the latest twist in the unfolding political power struggle between Brazil's progressive and conservative forces.

Temer came to power on May 12, after President Dilma Rousseff was suspended by the Senate in the lead up to her impeachment trial.

Rousseff and her ruling Worker's Party (PT) claim the accusations of inflating public fiscal accounts are political motivated as the right-wing tries to take control of government after losing the presidential elections in 2014.

Temer is being accused of the same crime as Rousseff, that of signing decrees that granted government additional loans without authorization from lawmakers, Mello said.