XV—to authorize Brazilians to accept pension, employment or commission from foreign governments;
XVI—to send to the Chamber of Deputies within the first two months of the legislative session, the budget proposal;
XVII—to render annually to the National Congress within sixty days after the opening of the legislative session, the accounts relative to the preceding fiscal year;
XVIII—to send a message to the National Congress upon the occasion of the opening of the legislative session, giving it an account of the state of the Nation and requesting of it the action which he may judge necessary;
XIX—to grant pardon and commute sentences, with hearing before the organs instituted by law.
SECTION III
The Responsibility of the President of the Republic
Art. 88—The President of the Republic, after the Chamber of Deputies have declared valid the accusation by the vote of the absolute majority of its members, shall be submitted to judgment before the Federal Supreme Court for common crimes or before the Federal Senate for those for which he is officially answerable.
Sole Paragraph—When the accusation has been declared founded, the President of the Republic shall be suspended from his functions.
Art. 89—Acts of the President of the Republic are crimes of his responsibility which make attempt against the Federal Constitution and especially against:
I—the existence of the Union;
II—the free exercise of the Legislative Power, or of the Judicial Power, as well as of the constitutional powers of the States;
III—the exercise of political, individual and social rights;
IV—the internal security of the Country;
V—the probity of the administration;
VI—the budget law;
VII—the safe keeping and legal employment of public funds;
VIII—the fulfillment of judicial decisions.
Sole Paragraph—These crimes shall be defined in a special law, which shall establish the norms of the respective prosecution and judgment.
SECTION IV
The Ministers of State
Art. 90—The President of the Republic is assisted by the Ministers of State.
Sole Paragraph—Essential conditions for investiture in the office of Minister of State are:
I—be a Brazilian (Article 129, I and II);
II—be in the exercise of political rights;
III—be over twenty-five years of age.
Art. 91—In addition to the attributes which the law may fix, the Ministers of State shall have power:
I—to countersign the acts signed by the President of the Republic;
II—to issue instructions for the good execution of the laws, decrees and regulations;
III—to present to the President of the Republic a report of the services of each year carried out in the Ministry;
IV—to appear before the Chamber of Deputies and before the Federal Senate in the cases and for the purposes specified in this Constitution.
Art. 92—The Ministers of State, in common crimes and those of their responsibility, shall be prosecuted and judged by the Federal Supreme Court; and in crimes connected with those of the President of the Republic, by the organs competent for the prosecution and judgment of the latter.
Art. 93—In addition to that provided in Article 54, Sole Paragraph, the acts defined in law according to the provisions of Article 89, when practised or ordered by the Ministers of State, are crimes of their responsibility.
Sole Paragraph—The Ministers of State are responsible for the acts they may sign, even though jointly with the President of the Republic, or which they may practice by his order.
Chapter IV
The Judicial Power
Section I
Preliminary Provisions
Art. 94—The Judicial Power is exercised by the following organs:
I—Federal Supreme Court;
II—Federal Court of Appeals;
III—military judges and tribunals;
IV—electoral judges and tribunals;
V—labor judges and tribunals.
Art. 95—Except for the instructions expressed in this Constitution, judges shall enjoy the following guaranties:
I—life tenure, they being unable to lose office except by judicial sentence;
II—irremovability, except when there should occur some motive of public interest, recognized by the vote of two-thirds of the effective members of the competent higher court;
III—irreducibility of remuneration which, however, shall remain subject to general taxes.
§ 1. Retirement shall be compulsory at seventy years of age or for proven ill health, and optional after thirty years of public service counted in the form of law;
§ 2. Retirement, in any case, shall be decreed with full remuneration.
§ 3. Life tenure shall not extend compulsorily to those judges whose functions are limited to the preparation of cases and the substitution of effective judges, except after ten years of continuous exercise of the office.
Art. 96—Judges are prohibited:
I—to exercise, even though inactive, any other public function except the secondary and higher teaching, and the cases provided for in this Constitution, under penalty of loss of judicial office;
II—to receive percentages, under any pretext, in the cases subject to his handling and judgment;
III—to exercise political party activity.
Art. 97—The courts shall have power:
I—to elect their president and other organs of direction;
II—to draw up their internal regulations and organize the auxiliary services filling their offices in the form of law; and likewise to propose to the competent Legislative Power the creation or extinction of offices and the fixing of the respective emoluments;
III—to grant leave and vacations in the terms of the law to their members and to the judges and deputies who may be immediately subordinate to them.
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