The Public Prosecutor's Office (Portuguese: Ministério Público, lit. "Public Ministry", also usually referred as "MP") is the Brazilian body of independent public prosecutors at both the federal (Ministério Público da União) and state level (Ministério Público Estadual). It operates independently from the three branches of government and was referred to by Constitutional scholar Michel Temer as the "Fourth Branch". However, nowadays Brazil is ironically said to have "Eight Branches" or powers, for the Constitution of 1988 split many of the original functions of the Public Prosecutor's Office into three different bodies: the Public Procurator's Office, the Public Defender's Office and the Public Prosecutor's Office itself, each one of them an independent body. In addition to that, the new C