(Bloomberg) -- Brazilian senators approved a constitutional amendment to curb some powers of the country’s Supreme Court, escalating a dispute between Congress and the the judicial branch.

The proposed constitutional change would end the ability of a single justice to issue a ruling that contradicts decisions from the president or the heads of both chambers of congress. 

The Senate passed the bill in two rounds of voting, both with 52 votes in favor and 18 against. The proposal now moves to the lower house.

Allies of former President Jair Bolsonaro had for years sought to limit the powers of Brazil’s judiciary, which they saw as an adversary of the right-wing leader and many of his policies. 

Recent rulings from the top court that lawmakers considered as encroachments on their own powers — including one that protected Indigenous land rights — renewed the push to get the bill approved.

The Supreme Court has yet to comment on the vote. But its current president, Justice Luis Roberto Barroso, has previously spoken out against the proposed changes.

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