AP Online
In a blow to President Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s Supreme Court early Friday rejected a motion seeking to block an impeachment vote against her in Congress’ lower house. It was another defeat for the embattled leader, who has lost support of key allies this week and is now even closer to a first major defeat in the process. The high court’s extraordinary session ran about 7½ hours and ended with justices voting 8-2 against the president, turning aside her claim that the voting procedures planned by the Chamber of Deputies were “contaminated.” House Speaker Eduardo Cunha, a fierce enemy of Rousseff, initially organized the vote to begin with legislators from the industrial and rich south, where opposition to the president is strongest. After the justices began meeting, Cunha’s lawyer presented a different plan that would alternate between the south and the north, where Rousseff has more support.