A Minister on Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court (STF) has moved to curb a core mechanism of political patronage, ruling as “absolutely null” any parliamentary budget amendments directed by party presidents or former lawmakers who do not hold a current legislative mandate. STF Minister Flávio Dino’s decision reinforces the principle that the power to allocate these massive federal funds belongs exclusively to sitting Deputies and Senators, delivering a blow to powerful, non-mandated political figures who have traditionally exercised control over billions of reais in public spending. Dino warned that non-compliance with the ruling could lead to disciplinary, civil, and criminal accountability for those involved.