BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro will nominate judge Kassio Nunes to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court left by the retirement of Justice Celso de Mello, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

The 48-year-old Nunes is an experienced judge, though not particularly well-known in the upper legal circles of Brazil.

Experts told Reuters he is regarded as relatively conservative, someone who sticks close to the letter of the law and steers away from rulings that rely on too much interpretation. He is seen as a strong protector of defendants’ rights.

His potential nomination comes as something of a surprise because his was not among the names most cited as likely to be appointed. But it is a less controversial pick than many experts had feared.

Bolsonaro had previously vowed to choose a “terribly evangelical” pick for the nation’s top court, but Nunes is Catholic, according to local media reports.

The justices on Brazil’s Supreme Court must retire when they reach 75 years old, and Bolsonaro will likely have a second nomination to make during his term.

Born in Teresina, in the northern state of Piaui, Nunes was appointed as judge to a local federal court in 2011 after being nominated by former leftist President Dilma Rousseff.

He specialized in tax law at university, according to court records.

The communication team of Nunes’ court did not respond to a request for comment, while the presidential palace declined to comment.

His nomination, if confirmed, will have to be approved by the Senate.

(Reporting by Ricardo Brito, writing by Jamie McGeever; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Rosalba O’Brien)

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