Brazil Supreme Court majority rejects move to stop impeachment

A majority of Brazil's Supreme Court on Friday rejected a last-ditch attempt by President Dilma Rousseff to halt the impeachment process against her ahead of a key vote in Congress.

Justices refused a request for an injunction against proceedings that the government lawyer called "kafkaesque" and said amounted to denying Rousseff the opportunity to defend herself.

The ruling in an emergency Supreme Court session that began late Thursday and went well past midnight in the capital Brasilia cleared the way for Sunday's vote by the lower house of Congress, which is due to decide whether to send Rousseff to impeachment trial.

Latest counts of voting intentions in the lower house by major Brazilian newspapers show that the pro-impeachment camp will have the necessary two-thirds majority.

If the vote passes on Sunday, the Senate will have the authority to open a trial against Rousseff, who is accused of illegal government accounting tricks. If the Senate finds her guilty with another two-thirds vote, she would be forced from office.