Stung by a Supreme Court rejection of their proposal to restrict recognition of Indigenous lands, Brazil’s congressional farm lobby is seeking quick passage on Wednesday of a bill to counter the top court’s decision.

The caucus representing the country’s powerful agribusiness is also backing bills to amend the Constitution that guarantees the right of Indigenous people to their ancestral lands, its president Pedro Lupion said.

“We will press ahead with our plans for legislation no matter what the court does,” he said in an interview with Reuters news agency on Tuesday.

The offensive could deepen a divide between a conservative-led Congress and a Supreme Court that many lawmakers criticize for judicial over-reach.

The Supreme Court last week voted against establishing a cut-off date for new reservations on lands Indigenous people did not live on by October 5, 1988, when the Constitution was enacted.

The court said 9 of its 11 justices rejected the deadline because it countered constitutional guarantees on Indigenous rights to ancestral lands. Two judges voted for the limit to end land conflicts and give farmers security on lands settled over the years in Brazil’s fast expanding agricultural frontier.

Brazil has 1.6 million Indigenous people according to the latest census, half of whom live on ancestral lands they say are vital to preserving their cultures and languages, mainly in the Amazon but also in farm states.

The number of land conflicts has increased as Brazil’s rapidly expanding agricultural frontier advances into the Amazon region. Across Brazil, Indigenous communities claim land that farmers have settled and developed, in some cases for decades.

Indigenous communities expelled

The case before the Supreme Court stemmed from a dispute in Santa Catarina state. The state government rejected a land claim by the Xokleng people, who were evicted from their ancestral land by tobacco farmers, arguing that they were not living on the disputed area in 1988.

Opposing the deadline, justices said Indigenous communities not living on their lands in 1988 most likely had been expelled.

Senator Marcos Rogerio, sponsor of a bill that establishes the 1988 deadline for land claims, said he expects the Constitution and Justice Committee will approve the proposal on Wednesday and the plenary to have also voted on it by the end of the day.

Lupion said bill PL 490, which has passed the lower chamber, faces a probable veto by leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has promised to legalize some 300 reservations awaiting recognition and protection by the state.

The farm lobby will focus next on passing constitutional amendment PEC 132 that establishes compensation for farmers forced to leave land they settled as far back as 70 years, Lupion said.

Though terms have not been decided by the Supreme Court, compensation for expelled farmers could be expensive for a government that has limited resources and is battling to curb Brazil’s fiscal deficit. And Lupion’s lobby is pressing for compensation to be paid before evictions and not after.

“If the government wants to demarcate [Indigenous lands] it must know that it will have to pay,” he said.

A third proposed amendment, or PEC 48, would insert the October 5, 1988 cut-off date directly into the text of the Constitution.

The farm lobby is confident it can muster the votes for the legislation it seeks. Caucus members account for three fifths of the lower house and half of the senate seats.

Lupion met with leaders of 15 other congressional caucuses on Tuesday to discuss ways to counter the top court for “usurping and invading” the jurisdiction of Congress by ruling on issues such as legalizing drugs and decriminalizing abortion.

“We will take the necessary measures to re-establish balance between the powers,” his group said in a statement.

-Reuters