The struggle between the richest man in the world and the most powerful man in Brazil had the fundamental participation of a character little known outside the United States.
American Representative Jim Jordan, Republican from the state of Ohio, is the one who published Alexandre de Moraes’ letters demanding the removal of content and the blocking of users from X (formerly Twitter). Moraes’ stance has been questioned by Elon Musk, the owner of the social network X.
At the beginning of the month, he had promised to release the material in full to prove what, in his words, are the minister’s illegal decisions. But by doing so in Brazil, on his own initiative, he could expose local X employees to Moraes’ pen.
The bridge with Jim Jordan solved this problem.
How the material was released
Jim Jordan is the chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the United States House of Representatives. The position is one of the most important in the American legislative hierarchy, and is equivalent to the presidency of the Constitution and Justice Committee of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies.
A week ago, Jordan sent a formal request for Musk’s company to forward to the committee all of Moraes’ decisions that determined the removal of content or the blocking of users from the then Twitter.
OX (a company based in the United States) is subject to American regulations, and therefore needs to respond to Congressional requests.
With the material in hand, Jordan produced the report released this Wednesday by the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives.
The document includes 88 letters sent by Moraes to Twitter via the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) and STF (Supreme Federal Court). Most of them do not even provide justification for removing content. “This interim report exposes the censorship campaign in Brazil and presents a worrying case study of how a government can justify censorship in the name of combating so-called ‘hate speech’ and the ‘subversion’ of ‘order'”, says the 541-page report.
After the documents were released, the STF press office only commented that “all STF decisions are substantiated”, and that the documents presented in the report are just letters with court orders sent to the platforms.
Unbeatable fighter
In the United States House of Representatives, Jim Jordan is known as a staunch conservative who makes no bones about collaborating with fellow Democrats. Opponents call him uncompromising and even overly aggressive.
Perhaps the stance has to do with Jordan’s past in wrestling.
In high school, Jordan was a four-time state wrestling champion and achieved an astonishing 150 wins in 151 fights. As an undergraduate, while studying Economics at the University of Wisconsin, he also won two national titles.
His career in the sport earned him a place in the wrestling Hall of Fame.
Jordan also graduated in Law and completed a Masters in Education before switching from sport to politics.
Jim Jordan in College Days: Place in the Wrestling Hall of Fame| Disclosure/House of Representatives
Three decades in politics
If he has an almost undefeated record in wrestling, Jim Jordan has an even more undeniable electoral performance: Jordan has never lost an election.
His first public position was as state representative for Ohio, in 1994. Six years later, he reached the state Senate. In 2006, he achieved his first term as a member of the House of Representatives. He has been re-elected eight times since then (in the United States, deputies serve a two-year term).
Jordan represents Ohio’s fourth district, which includes much of the central region of the state. In 2022, the most recent election, he defeated Democrat Tamie Wilson and won 69%.2 of the vote in his district.
The area represented by Jordan does not include the most populous regions of Ohio, where the Democratic party tends to be most popular. He represents a mostly conservative region of the state, which, in the presidential elections, has oscillated between Republicans and Democrats.
It is no exaggeration to say that Jim Jordan is more conservative than his party colleagues. On a scale of 0 to 100, he has 94 points in the ranking of the Heritage Foundation, the main conservative think tank in the United States. The Republican average is 75.
In the classification made by the left-wing environmental group “League of Conservation Voters”, Jordan has 3 points from 0 to 100.
Jordan is sixty years old, has been married since he was 21 and has four children. He also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the highest award from the American government — from Donald Trump in 2021. The award was presented just days before Trump left office.
Interest in Brazil is rare
Brazil is not usually on the radar of American politics — more concerned with global competitors (such as China), neighboring nations (such as Mexico) or regimes that pose a direct threat to the security of the United States (such as Iran).
Although Brazilian parliamentarians had already approached American congressmen to denounce Alexandre de Moraes’ actions, it was only after Elon Musk challenged the minister in public that the issue gained traction in Washington.
Jim Jordan’s concern for free speech did not arise now. In October 2022, for example, he he wrote: “Two things the left hates: Elon Musk and the First Amendment.” The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is what guarantees broad protection for freedom of expression in the country.
On the other hand, Jordan does not have any special connection with Brazil. He never mentioned the word “Brazil” in his X posts, and the state of Ohio does not have a sizable Brazilian population. It was Jim Jordan’s position on the Judiciary Committee that made him a key figure in the struggle between Elon Musk and Alexandre de Moraes.
Jordan, in fact, did not arrive at the position by chance. Contrary to what happens in Brazil, the command of parliamentary committees in the American Congress is usually defined by seniority criteria. Whoever has served the longest gets priority in the division of duties. This also means that as long as Republicans have a majority in the House of Representatives, Jordan should remain in charge of the committee.