Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff

The impeachment process against Dilma Rousseff, the 36th President of Brazil, began in late 2015 and continued through 2016. An impeachment request against Rousseff was accepted by Eduardo Cunha, then president of the Chamber of Deputies, on 2 December 2015. Rousseff was charged with criminal responsibility in the execution of her duties, including administrative misconduct and disregarding the federal budget in violation of article 85, items V and VI of the Brazilian Constitution and the Fiscal Responsibility Law (), article 36. However, a large number of scholars and witnesses during the hearing phase of the process stated that these lapses did not amount to criminal responsibility. In the course of the process, two of the six supplemental budget decrees signed by Rousseff without approval from Congress were considered neutral from a fiscal perspective and were removed from the charges.

According to the impeachment request, Rousseff was also accused of omission concerning irregularities in Brazilian petroleum company Petrobras where she, as President of Brazil and presented with serious allegations uncovered by Operation Car Wash, failed to distance herself from the suspects. According to the report, that omission was aggravated by Rousseff's being president of the board of directors of the company during the time that the investigated facts occurred, including the controversial acquisition of Pasadena Refining System, cited on page 3 of the impeachment request. According to this request, her omission would indicate criminal responsibility. However, these charges of omission were not included in the impeachment process, since any indictment on her involvement in the suspicious purchase of Pasadena was set aside by a legal obstacle that prevented investigating a president for acts previous to his/her presidential mandate.

On 31 August 2016, the Senate removed President Rousseff from office by a vote of 61–20, finding her guilty of breaking budgetary laws.

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