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Judges and Courts Destabilizing Constitutionalism: The Brazilian Judiciary Branch's Political and Authoritarian Character

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

Emilio Peluso Neder Meyer

Abstract

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Contemporary democracies may confront several instances of exceptions that co-exist with constitutional institutions; they are never free from any risks. This Article relies on recent Brazilian judicial experiences in order to present and highlight how courts and judges, from within the institutional structure, can act as elite actors that endanger the constitutional system, giving it the characteristics of unstable constitutionalism. By presenting the recent political and juridical facts that drove Brazil to constitutional crisis, the work brings not only judicial rulings but also the institutional and corporative structure that served as the main methods of avoiding the judicial reforms that could have led to a true transition from dictatorship to democracy. The conclusion is that the Brazilian courts blocked effective transitional constitutionalism in Brazil, making room for the current unstable constitutionalism.

Type
The rule of law, constitutionalism and the judiciary
Information
German Law Journal , Volume 19 , Issue 4 , 01 July 2018 , pp. 727 - 768
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 by German Law Journal, Inc. 

References

1 See Schmitt, Carl, Constitutional Theory (Jeffrey Seitzer ed., 2008). Ideas like “exceptional moments” or the need to preserve a special kind of “political stability” will be part of several Brazilian court rulings mentioned in this Article. For an analysis of Brazilian and Latin American judiciaries from an “exceptionalism” explanation based on Georgio Agamben, see Serrano, Pedro, Autoritarismo e Golpes na America Latina: Breve Ensaio sobre Jurisdição e Exceção (2016).Google Scholar

2 For a pluralistic description of President Dilma Rousseff's ousting as coup, see A Resistência ao Golpe de 2016 (Carol Proner et al. eds., 2016). For the opposite perspective, see Melo, Marcos, Crisis and integrity in Brazil, 27 J. Democr. 2, 50–65 (2016).Google Scholar

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4 See generally Luhmann, Niklas, Law As a Social System (2004).Google Scholar

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In the Brazilian case, what is hard to accept is the aggressive participation of the judiciary in the coup's occurrence in view of two factors that formed the great historical opportunity for the judicial branch to affirm itself as one of the safest cornerstones of Brazilian democracy. On one hand, it was during the PT's [Partido dos Trabalhadores, ‘Workers Party‘] government that the judicial and criminal investigation system was significantly improved, not only financially but also institutionally. On the other hand, it was clear right from the start that Dilma Rousseff did not commit any crime of responsibility that could justify the impeachment. The conditions to start a vehement fight against corruption without compromising the political instability were created and, on the contrary, enhanced democracy. Why was this opportunity so grossly wasted? The judicial branch owes an answer to Brazilian society.Google Scholar

Free translation from: “No caso do Brasil, o que mais custa a aceitar é a participação agressiva do sistema judiciário na concretização do golpe, tendo em vista dois fatores que constituíam a grande oportunidade histórica de o sistema judicial se afirmar como um dos pilares mais seguros da democracia brasileira. Por um lado, foi durante os governos PT que o sistema judicial e de investigação criminal recebeu o maior reforço não só financeiro como institucional. Por outro lado, era evidente desde o início que Dilma Rousseff não tinha cometido qualquer crime de responsabilidade que justificasse o impedimento. Estavam criadas as condições para encetar uma luta veemente contra a corrupção sem perturbar a normalidade democrática e, pelo contrário, fortalecendo a democracia. Por que é que esta oportunidade foi tão grosseiramente desperdiçada? O sistema judicial deve uma resposta à sociedade brasileira ….”Google Scholar

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Despite their name, legislative coups against the president are not always conducted by the legislators themselves. In most historical circumstances, the members of Congress have simply offered congressional support for a military conspiracy. This leads to an important distinction between proactive legislators, those who initiate and control the confrontation with the president, and reactive legislators, those who jump on the bandwagon of a confrontation driven by the military or by other social actor[s].Google Scholar

It is striking that Pérez-Liñán used the Brazilian example of 1955 to describe his idea of a legislative coup; we will see, however, that what happened in 2016 depended much more on the role played by other institutional and social actors, such as judges.Google Scholar

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23 I would like to thank Thomas Bustamante for clarifying some of the further issues concerning the supposedly impeachable acts. See Bustamante, Thomas, Democracy and the Rule of Law When Dialogue Is No Longer Possible: Is Brazil's 2016 Impeachment Process a Coup? 16 (unpublished manuscript, on file with the author).Google Scholar

24 Brazil, Statute Law nº 12.952 of 2014.Google Scholar

25 Bustamante, supra note 23, at 16.Google Scholar

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Acts of the President of the Republic that are attempts against the Federal Constitution are impeachable offenses, especially those against the:Google Scholar

(…)Google Scholar

VI. the budgetary law;Google Scholar

(…)Google Scholar

Article 167Google Scholar

It is prohibited to:Google Scholar

(…)Google Scholar

V. open a supplemental or special appropriation without prior legislative authorization and without indication of the respective funds[;].Google Scholar

Brazil, Statute Law nº 1.079 of 1950 (translated by the author). The original Portuguese version can be found here: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/leis/L1079.htm.Google Scholar

Article 10Google Scholar

These are crimes of responsibility against the budgetary law:Google Scholar

(…)Google Scholar

4 – Violate, clearly, and in any way, the budgetary statute disposition.Google Scholar

Article 11Google Scholar

These are crimes against the maintenance and legal spending of public money:Google Scholar

(…)Google Scholar

2 – Open credit without legal funding or without the legal requirements[;].Google Scholar

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Article 11Google Scholar

These are crimes against the maintenance and legal spending of public money:Google Scholar

(…)Google Scholar

3 – Get a loan, issue currency or insurance policies or commit credit operation without legal requirements.Google Scholar

29 See Dilma, Out!, Economist (Apr. 23, 2016), http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21697284-few-pro-impeachment-congressmen-cited-specific-charges-dilma-out?fsrc=scn%2Ftw%2Fte%2Fpe%2Fed%2Fdilmaout; Antonio Jiménez Barca, Más del 50% de los Diputados Brasileños Tiene Cuentas Pendientes con la Justicia, El Pais (Apr. 25, 2016), http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2016/04/23/actualidad/1461428271_674627.html?rel=lom. One of the deputies even dedicated his vote to Dilma Rousseff's former torturer, Carlos Alberto Brilhante Ustra, someone who was condemned in a civil lawsuit for perpetrating torture against the Brazilian Teles family. The shameless speech provoked an outrageous debate. Several associations from Latin America and other parts of the world condemned the declaration and asked for the deputy's punishment, agreeing with the initiative proposed by the Latin America Transitional Justice Network Executive Secretariat (http://www.rlajt.com/noticia/334/.html).Google Scholar

30 The Brazilian Supreme Court President is due to preside over the Senate's impeachment process trial. See Braz. Const., tit. IV, ch. 1, article 52, sole paragraph.Google Scholar

31 AC 4.039, Brazilian Supreme Court, Nov. 24, 2015, http://www.stf.jus.br/arquivo/cms/noticianoticiastf/anexo/acao_cautelar_4039.pdf. It is notable that Justice Teori Zavascki would die in a plane crash in January 2017. See Watts, Jonathan, Brazil Supreme Court Justice Overseeing Vast Corruption Case Dies in Plane Crash, Guardian (Jan. 19, 2017), https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/19/brazil-supreme-court-corruption-case-teori-zavascki-dies-plane-crash.Google Scholar

32 There are several Brazilian Supreme Court rulings that affirm this idea. For instance, see HC 112.454, Brazilian Supreme Court, Mar. 19, 2013, http://redir.stf.jus.br/paginadorpub/paginador.jsp?docTP=TP&docID=3625670.Google Scholar

33 Braz. Statute Law nº 12.850 of 2013, http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_ato2011-2014/2013/lei/l12850.htm.Google Scholar

34 Braz. Const. tit. IV, ch. 1, article 53.Google Scholar

Article 53Google Scholar

The Deputies and Senators shall enjoy civil and criminal immunity for any of their opinions, words and votes.Google Scholar

§1° From the date of their investiture, Deputies and Senators shall be judged by the Supreme Federal Tribunal.Google Scholar

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37 See AC 4.070, Brazilian Supreme Court, May 5, 2017, http://www.ebc.com.br/sites/_portalebc2014/files/atoms/files/ac4070.pdf.Google Scholar

38 See Braz. Crim. Code, book I, tit. IX, article 282.Google Scholar

39 See Braz. Const. tit. IV, ch. 2, article 86, § 1º, number 1.Google Scholar

40 See AC 4.070, Brazilian Supreme Court, May 5, 2017, http://www.ebc.com.br/sites/_portalebc2014/files/atoms/files/ac4070.pdf 72–73Google Scholar

Decide-se aqui uma situação extraordinária, excepcional e, por isso, pontual e individualizada… Mesmo que não haja previsão específica, com assento constitucional, a respeito do afastamento, pela jurisdição criminal, de parlamentares do exercício de seu mandato, ou a imposição de afastamento do Presidente da Câmara dos Deputados quando o seu ocupante venha a ser processado criminalmente, está demonstrado que, no caso, ambas se fazem claramente devidas.Google Scholar

41 The ADPF, a claim of non-compliance with a fundamental precept in a direct translation (arguição de descumprimento de preceito fundamental) is one of the ways of provoking the Brazilian Supreme Court to decide constitutional matters based on a concentrated or European model of constitutional review.Google Scholar

42 See ADPF 402, Brazilian Supreme Court, http://www.stf.jus.br/portal/processo/verProcessoAndamento.asp?incidente=4975492.Google Scholar

43 See Consultor Jurídico, Fachin Afasta Aécio e Loures; Pedidos de Prisão Preventiva Foram Negados, https://www.conjur.com.br/2017-mai-18/fachin-afasta-aecio-deputado-pedidos-prisao-plenario.Google Scholar

44 See Júlia Affonso & Fausto Macedo, Aécio tem ‘fortes elos com o Brasil’ e 'carreira política elogiável, diz Marco Aurélio (June 30, 2017), O Estado de S. Paulo, http://politica.estadao.com.br/blogs/fausto-macedo/aecio-tem-fortes-elos-como-brasil-e-carreira-politica-elogiavel-diz-marco-aurelio/.Google Scholar

45 See Federal, Supremo Tribunal, 1a Turma determina afastamento do senador Aécio Neves do cargo, http://www.stf.jus.br/portal/cms/verNoticiaDetalhe.asp?idConteudo=356966; see also AC 4.327, Brazilian Supreme Court, http://www.stf.jus.br/portal/processo/verProcessoAndamento.asp?incidente=5188006.Google Scholar

46 It is important to elucidate that, like several other courts in the world, the Brazilian Supreme Court, in constitutional review procedures, goes far beyond the binomial constitutionality/unconstitutionality, using remedies like the ‘interpretation according to the Constitution’ or Italian techniques such as the sentenze additive or German techniques such as the Apellentscheidung. For an overview of all those techniques, see Meyer, Emilio, Decisão e Jurisdição Constitucional (2017).Google Scholar

47 See Notícias do STF, Federal, Supremo Tribunal, http://www.stf.jus.br/portal/cms/verNoticiaDetalhe.asp?idConteudo=358853; see also ADI 5.526, Brazilian Supreme Court, http://www.stf.jus.br/portal/processo/verProcessoAndamento.asp?incidente=4982736.Google Scholar

48 See O Globo, Aécio Neves diz em nota que recebeu ‘com serenidade’ decisão do Senado, https://oglobo.globo.com/brasil/aecio-neves-diz-em-nota-que-recebeu-com-serenidade-decisao-do-senado-21959044.Google Scholar

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50 See Court, Brazilian Supreme, MS 34.441, Oct. 21, 2016, http://www.stf.jus.br/portal/processo/verProcessoPeca.asp?id=310585765&tipoApp=.pdf.Google Scholar

51 There is a huge gap in the proper rulings for the judicial docket in Brazil and the ways to control it. See Arguelhes, Diego & Hartman, Ivar, Timing Control Without Docket Control: How Individual Justices Shape Brazilian Supreme Court's Agenda, 5 JLC 1, 105–40 (2017) (discussing how Brazilian Supreme Court Justices have the power to control the court's agenda by formal and informal means).Google Scholar

52 Juliano Zaiden Benvindo, Brazil's Increasingly Politicized Supreme Court, Int'l J. Const. L. Blog (Feb. 16, 2017), http://www.iconnectblog.com/2017/02/brazils-increasingly-politicized-supreme-court/ Google Scholar

After some suspense and bets, amid a political crisis and a criminal investigation involving many bigwigs in Congress, President Michel Temer nominated Alexandre de Moraes, the justice minister of his government and a political figure affiliated with the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), to the Supreme Court. His political background notwithstanding, his legal credentials are also in question. Even though he is a professor of constitutional law at the University of São Paulo and has written some books in the field, scholars and the media have mentioned the shallowness of his work and have even exposed the occurrence of plagiarism. His nomination is emblematic of the moment Brazil is currently experiencing and points to how the current government seems to be taking advantage of the Supreme Court's institutional flaws and its soaring power to set up a political court. This is a critical moment in Brazilian democracy. If there is any hope, however, it lies in the fact that, now more than ever, Brazilians have started to critically discuss who will be their next Supreme Court justice.Google Scholar

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55 “One who enters government service does not cease to be a &;person&; within the Fifth Amendment, and an impeachment for offenses outside constitutional authorization would deny him the protection afforded by &;due process.&; It would be passing strange to conclude that a citizen may invoke the judicial &;bulwark&; against a twenty-dollar fine but not against an unconstitutional impeachment, removal from and perpetual disqualification to hold federal office.” Raoul Berger, Impeachment: The Constitutional Problems, 116–17 (1973).Google Scholar

56 Congresso em Foco, Ministros do STF criticam referências a “golpe,” Congresso em Foco, http://congressoemfoco.uol.com.br/noticias/ministros-do-stf-criticam-referencias-a-golpe/.Google Scholar

57 The Brazilian Supreme Court ruled on the same impeachment procedure in the ADPF (a kind of concentrated model of constitutional review) nº 378 right at the start of the procedure. In this case, the court was much more prolix, relying on the idea that there was not, at the time, a need to discuss the merits of the accusations. See Court, Brazilian Supreme, ADPF 378, Dec. 17, 2016, http://www.stf.jus.br/portal/processo/verProcessoAndamento.asp?incidente=4899156. Since the merits of the impeachment process were not, until now, ruled by the Brazilian Supreme Court, the only forecast we can make is that the court, relying in its conservative background, will not discuss the seriousness of the accusation and will repeat its precedent from 1993, whose foundations rely in the American “political question doctrine.” For an overview of this doctrine, see Issacharoff, Samuel, Fragile Democracies: Contested Power in the Era of Constitutional Courts, 152 (2015).Google Scholar

58 Braz. Const., tit. II, ch. I, article 5, n. LVII. See the translation by Keith Rosenn for the Constitute Project, https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Brazil_2015?lang=en,Google Scholar

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Everyone is equal before the law, with no distinction whatsoever, guaranteeing to Brazilians and foreigners residing in the Country the inviolability of the rights to life, liberty, equality, security and property, on the following terms:Google Scholar

…Google Scholar

LVII. no one shall be considered guilty until his criminal conviction has become final and non-appealable[;]Google Scholar

Some Constitutions make explicit associations between the presumption of innocence and “res judicata.” Albany's Constitution of 1988 demands a final ruling to set aside the presumption of innocence (article 30). Angola's Constitution of 2010 establishes the presumption of innocence until a final decision be involved by “res judicata” (article 67, no. 2). The Bulgarian Constitution of 1991 also demands a final ruling (article 31, no. 3); the Croatian Constitution of 1991, article 28, mentions a final judgment to set aside the presumption of innocence; similar clauses are found in the Dominican Republic's Constitution of 2010 (article 69, no. 3), Ecuador's Constitution of 2008 (article 76, no. 2); Italy's Constitution of 1947 (article 27); Poland's Constitution of 1997 (article 42, no. 3); the Portuguese Constitution of 1976 (article 32, no. 2); and Romania's Constitution of 1991 (article 23, no. 11) (all data collected at https://www.constituteproject.org/?lang=en).Google Scholar

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60 See Court, Brazilian Supreme, HC 126.292, Feb. 17, 2016, http://redir.stf.jus.br/paginadorpub/paginador.jsp?docTP=TP&docID=10964246.Google Scholar

61 However, it is important to notice that another way of getting access to these courts and having some success is filing a habeas corpus writ.Google Scholar

62 See Alexy, Robert, A Theory of Constitutional Rights (2002); Meyer, supra note 46, at 219; Juliano Benvindo, On the Limits of Constitutional Adjudication: Deconstructing Balancing and Judicial Activism (2010). For a broader perspective on the use of the proportionality, see Barak, Aharon, Proportionality: Constitutional Rights and Their Limitations (2012) and Proportionality: New Frontiers, New Challenges (Vicki Jackson & Mark Tushnet eds. 2017).Google Scholar

63 All of them, with different points of view. For the idea of “constitutional mutation” in German Public Law, see Flávio Pedron, Mutação Constitucional na Crise do Positivismo Jurídico (2012); see also Caldwell, Peter, Popular Sovereignty and the Crisis of German Constitutional Law: The Theory & Practice of Weimar Constitutionalism (1997); Arthur Jacobson & Bernhard Schlink, Weimar: A Jurisprudence of Crisis (2002).Google Scholar

64 See Court, Brazilian Supreme, MC in ADC's 43 and 44, (Barroso, J.), http://s.conjur.com.br/dl/voto-ministro-barroso-prisao-antes.pdf.Google Scholar

65 See Court, Brasilian Supreme, HC 152.752, April 5, 2018, http://www.stf.jus.br/portal/processo/verProcessoAndamento.asp?numero=152752&classe=HC&origem=AP&recurso=0&tipoJulgamento=M. See, also, Lênio Streck and Emilio Meyer, ‘O HC de Lula — maioria transformada em minoria: a “colegialidade” em ação!', Conjur, 2018, https://www.conjur.com.br/2018-abr-05/opiniao-hc-lula-maioria-transformada-minoria. The criminal complaint against Lula is filled with irregularities, beyond Moro's suspect competence. In the same Operation Carwash, appeals in the Fourth Federal Court of Appeals took 96 days to be tried; Lula's appeal was tried in 42 days (Estelita Carazzai and Joelmir Tavares, ‘Recurso de Lula foi o que mais répido chegou à 2a instância', Folha de S. Paulo, 2017, https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2017/08/1912821-recurso-de-lula-foi-o-que-mais-rapido-chegou-a-2-instancia.shtml. For further information on Lula's advocates perspective, see Robertson, Geoffrey, ‘The Case for Lula: He Deserves a Fair Trial, Not Persecution’, Foreign Affairs, 2017, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/brazil/2017-04-19/case-lula.Google Scholar

66 See Ernesto Londoño and Shasta Darlington, ‘Lula, Brazil's Ex-President, Can Be Jailed, Court Rules’, NY Times, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/world/americas/brazil-lula-corruption-prison.html.Google Scholar

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72 See Sérgio Fernando Moro, Considerações sobre a operação mani puliti, 26 R. Cej. 56, 56–62 (2004). See also Margarida Lacombe & José Ribas Vieira, A estratégia institucional do Juiz Sérgio Moro descrita por ele mesmo, Jota, https://jota.info/artigos/estrategia-institucional-juiz-sergio-moro-descrita-por-ele-mesmo-28032016.Google Scholar

73 See Pedro Canário, Criticadas por Gilmar, preventivas da “lava jato” duram em média 9, 3 meses, Conjur, http://www.conjur.com.br/2017-fev-07/criticadas-preventivas-lava-jato-duram-media-93-meses.Google Scholar

74 Brazilian Constitution, tit. II, ch. 1, article 5, n. LXXVIII.Google Scholar

75 In April 2015, 204 habeas corpus actions were filed, but only 5 were granted in place of definitive rulings. See Júlia Affonso, Fausto Macedo, & Ricardo Brandt, Contra a Lava Jato, investigados pediram 204 habeas corpus, mas ganharam apenas dois, O Estado de S. Paulo, http://politica.estadao.com.br/blogs/fausto-macedo/contra-a-lava-jato-investigados-pediram-204-habeas-corpus-mas-ganharam-apenas-dois/. In a habeas corpus writ tried by the Brazilian Superior Court (Superior Tribunal de Justiça), Justice Felix Fischer mentioned, albeit avoiding speaking in terms of an “exception judgment,” the need to recognize the “circumstances and peculiarities of the situation,” quoting another judge who classified the fact as something singular in the last 50 years. Brazilian Superior Court, HC 75.286, https://ww2.stj.jus.br/processo/revista/documento/mediado/?componente=ITA&sequencial=1552055&num_registro=201602276315&data=20161114&formato=PDF.Google Scholar

76 See Brasil, 13th Federal Court of Curitiba, PEDIDO DE QUEBRA DE SIGILO DE DADOS E/OU TELEFÔNICOS 5006205-98.2016.4.04.7000/PR, http://s.conjur.com.br/dl/decisao-levantamento-sigilo.pdf.Google Scholar

77 See Castro, Fernando, Samuel Nunes, & Vladimir Netto, Moro derruba sigilo e divulga grampo de ligação entre Lula e Dilma; ouça, G1, http://g1.globo.com/pr/parana/noticia/2016/03/pf-libera-documento-que-mostra-ligacao-entre-lula-e-dilma.html; Ricardo Brandt, Fausto Macedo, & Julia Affonso, Lava Jato pegou conversas de Lula e Dilma no telefone; ouça, O Estado de S. Paulo, http://politica.estadao.com.br/blogs/fausto-macedo/ouca-lula-e-dilma-no-telefone/; Filipe Coutinho, Thiago Bronzato, & Daniel Haidar, Dilma cai em escuta da PF em conversa com Lula. Ouça, Época, http://epoca.globo.com/tempo/noticia/2016/03/dilma-cai-em-grampo-da-pf-em-conversa-com-lula.html.Google Scholar

78 Braz. Const., tit. IV, ch. III, section II, article 102, n. I, letter ‘c’.Google Scholar

79 See Court, Brazilian Supreme, MS's 34.070 and 34.071, March 18, 2016, http://www.stf.jus.br/portal/processo/verProcessoPeca.asp?id=308995627&tipoApp=.pdf.Google Scholar

80 See Meyer, Emilio, A Colcha de Retalhos de Gilmar Mendes, Jota, https://www.jota.info/opiniao-e-analise/artigos/colcha-de-retalhos-de-gilmar-mendes-26032016.Google Scholar

81 Interestingly, in November 2017, long after Rousseff was impeached and Lula indicted, Judge Moro would publicly declare that he had no regrets on the disclosure. See Stochero, Tahiane, Moro diz não se arrepender de ter divulgado áudio entre Lula e Dilma, G1, https://g1.globo.com/sp/sao-paulo/noticia/moro-diz-nao-se-arrepender-de-ter-divulgado-audio-entre-lula-e-dilma.ghtml.Google Scholar

82 See Court, Brazilian Supreme, RECL. 23.457, June 13, 2016, http://www.stf.jus.br/arquivo/cms/noticianoticiastf/anexo/rcl23457.pdf. See, also, Braz. Const., tit. II, ch. I, article 5, n. XII, and Braz. Statute Law n° 9.296 of 1996.Google Scholar

83 See Braz. Complementary Law nº 35 of 1979, tit. III, ch. I, article 35, n. I; Braz. National Magistrates Ethics Code, ch. IV, article 12, and ch. VIII, article 25; Braz. National Magistrates Council Resolution nº 59 of 2008.Google Scholar

84 See Brazilian Fourth Federal Courts of Appeals, PA CORTE ESPECIAL 0003021-32.2016.4.04.8000, Sep. 23, 2016, http://s.conjur.com.br/dl/lava-jato-nao-seguir-regras-casos.pdf.Google Scholar

85 See Grau, Eros, Por que Tenho Medo dos Juízes (2016).Google Scholar

86 See Conselho Nacional de Justiça, Censo do Poder Judiciário: VIDE – Vetores Iniciais e Dados Estatísticos (2014), http://www.cnj.jus.br/images/dpj/CensoJudiciario.final.pdf.Google Scholar

87 See Thiago Resende & Raphael di Cunto, Lewandowski Obtém Apoio de Líderes na Câmara ao Reajuste do Judiciário, Valor Econômico (Apr. 26, 2016), http://www.valor.com.br/politica/4539721/lewandowski-obtem-apoio-de-lideres-na-camara-ao-reajuste-do-judiciario.Google Scholar

88 Judiciário fica mais caro e leva 1,3% do PIB; juiz custa R$ 46 mil/mês, UOL Notícias (Oct. 17, 2016), http://noticias.uol.com.br/politica/ultimas-noticias/2016/10/17/judiciario-fica-mais-caro-e-leva-13-do-pib-juiz-custa-r-46-milmes.htm.Google Scholar

89 Fábio Góis, Temer sanciona sem vetos projeto que concede aumento de 41% a servidores do Judiciário, Congresso em Foco (July 21, 2016), http://congressoemfoco.uol.com.br/noticias/temer-sanciona-sem-vetos-projeto-que-concede-aumento-de-41-a-servidores-do-judiciario/.Google Scholar

90 Brazilian Supreme Court, AO 1.773 (Sep. 18, 2014), http://www.stf.jus.br/portal/processo/verProcessoPeca.asp?id=261622279&tipoApp=.pdf.Google Scholar

91 See Recondo, Felipe, Por liminar, auxílio-moradia de juízes já custa R$ 860 milhões, Jota, http://jota.info/por-liminar-auxilio-moradia-de-juizes-ja-custa-r-860-milhoes.Google Scholar

92 See Pompeu, Ana, Fux retira processos sobre auxílio-moradia da pauta do Plenário do Supremo, Conjur, https://www.conjur.com.br/2018-mar-21/fux-retira-processos-auxilio-moradia-pauta-pleno-stf.Google Scholar

93 The first results can be found at Luciano da Ros, O custo da Justiça no Brasil: uma análise comparativa exploratória, 9 Observatory of Soc. and Pol. Elites in Brazil Newsl. 1, 1–15 (2015).Google Scholar

94 In a dollar rate of R$ 3.09.Google Scholar

95 Braz. Const., tit. III, chap. VII, article 379, § 4º.Google Scholar

96 Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística, IBGE divulga o rendimento domiciliar per capita 2016, ftp://ftp.ibge.gov.br/Trabalho_e_Rendimento/Pesquisa_Nacional_por_Amostra_de_Domicilios_continua/Renda_domiciliar_per_capita/Renda_domiciliar_per_capita_2016.pdf.Google Scholar

97 Souza, supra note 6, at 121; Jessé Souza, A Tolice da Inteligência Brasileira (2015).Google Scholar

98 Ruti Teitel, Globalizing Transitional Justice: Contemporary Essays 182 (2014).Google Scholar

99 Leonardo Barbosa, História Constitucional Brasileira 205 (2012).Google Scholar

100 Alexandre Carvalho, Juscorporativismo: os juízes e o judiciário na Assembleia Nacional Constituinte, 114 Revista Brasileira de Estudos Políticos 31, 31–77 (2017). See generally Schinke, Vanessa, Judiciário e Autoritarismo: Regime Autoritário (1964–1985), Democracia e Permanências (2016).Google Scholar

101 Id. at 43.Google Scholar

102 Id. at 50.Google Scholar

103 Braz. Const., tit. IV, ch. III, article 92, I-A and 103-B.Google Scholar

104 See Pereira, Anthony, Political (In)Justice: Authoritarianism and the Rule of Law in Brazil, Chile, and Argentina (2005).Google Scholar

105 See Meyer, Emilio, Ditadura e Responsabilização (2012); Emilio Meyer, Criminal Responsibility in Brazilian Transitional Justice: A Constitutional Interpretative Process under the Paradigm of International Human Rights Law, 4 Idon. J. Int'l & Comp. L. 1, 41–71 (2017); Yi Shin Tang, International Justice Through Domestic Courts, 9 Int. J. Tran. Just. 2, 259–77 (2015).Google Scholar

106 See Justiça de Transição em Perspectiva Transnacional (Emilio Meyer ed., 2017). Brazil was condemned for maintaining that the Amnesty Law of 1979 reached state perpetrators by the Inter-American Court of Human rights in two opportunities: in 2010, in Case of Gomes Lund et al. (“Guerrilha do Araguaia”) v. Brazil (http://www.corteidh.or.cr/docs/casos/articulos/seriec_219_ing.pdf), and in 2018, in Caso Herzog e Outros v. Brasil (http://www.corteidh.or.cr/docs/casos/articulos/seriec_353_por.pdf).Google Scholar

107 For instance, the cases decided by the Brazilian Supreme Court when it recognized the constitutionality of gay marriage, the legitimacy of public manifestations in favor of decriminalizing marijuana usage, and the illegitimacy of private companies financing elections. See Court, Brazilian Supreme, ADI 4.277 and ADPF 132, http://redir.stf.jus.br/paginadorpub/paginador.jsp?docTP=AC&docID=628633; Brazilian Supreme Court, ADPF 187, http://redir.stf.jus.br/paginadorpub/paginador.jsp?docTP=TP&docID=5956195; Brazilian Supreme Court, ADI 4.650, http://www.stf.jus.br/portal/processo/verProcessoPeca.asp?id=308746530&tipoApp=.pdf.Google Scholar

108 See Serrano, supra note 1.Google Scholar

109 Roberto Gargarella, La Sala de Máquinas de la Constitución: Dos Siglos de Constitucionalismo en América Latina 360 (2014). One must be aware, however, that Gargarella does not explore sufficiently the potential devices of democratization that were available recently in countries like Brazil, Ecuador or Bolivia.Google Scholar

110 The situation can get worse if we add other conditions: Economic and political crises; parliamentary crises where a party (the MDB) that was the result of every kind of opposition to the dictatorship and would become the best example of any kind of arrangement to remain in power during a democracy; the absence of popular control in main public policies, especially those related to infrastructure, generating high levels of corruption. See Avritzer, Leonardo, Impasses da Democracia no Brasil (2016) (discussing social mobilization maneuvered by media concentration, especially social mobilization focused on demonizing the state and glorifying market).Google Scholar

111 Issacharoff, supra note 58, at 12 (2015). The second role can be illustrated by control over the enforcement of constitutional rules against dominant parties inherited from the authoritarian regime. In this sense, Brazil faces a double confrontation: a) coalition presidentialism based on the pulverization of political parties creates serious obstacles for the President to gain parliamentary support. See Sérgio Abranches, Presidencialismo de coalizão: o dilema institucional brasileiro, 31 Revista de Ciências Sociais 1, 4–34 (1988); José Antonio Cheibub & Fernando Limongi, Legislative-Executive Relations, in Comparative Constitutional Law 222 (Tom Ginsburg & Rosalind Dixon eds., 2011) b) the presence of a political party, the MDB, born as the oppositional party during the dictatorship of 1964–1985. If during the dictatorial period, the MDB encompassed all progressive forces that could oppose the regime, during the 1980s the permission for the multiparty system's return ensured that MDB could represent not social movements but Brazil's political elite. This is something that can be seen by its role in the “Centrão” (big center) during the ANC, which was a way of preventing the social and popular forces that appeared in the constitutional design moment from leading all the deliberations. Since José Sarney's presidency, [a former member of the dictatorship party, the ARENA (Aliança Renovadora Nacional), who was chosen to represent the MDB only for political circumstances], the MDB has developed a physiological performance supposedly needed in the name of governability. This way of conducting politics became dominant. The PMDB was always the force that supported or exercised the executive branch: It did so with the FHC (1994–2002); Lula (2002–2010, but mainly after 2005, when the “Mensalão” scandal was brought to light); Rousseff (2010–2016, with Michel Temer, from the PMDB, as her Vice-President for the two terms and ultimately betraying her); and, finally, Temer (2016–2017, with the PMDB, in the executive branch, putting into action the right's austerity program with the support of the once opposition political party, the PSDB). See Nobre, Marcos, Imobilismo em Movimento: da Abertura Democrática ao Governo Dilma (2013). As we mentioned, PMDB recently readopted its original anacronym, MDB.Google Scholar

112 Issacharoff, supra note 58, at 10.Google Scholar

113 Issacharoff, supra note 58, at 194.Google Scholar

114 48 U.S. 1 (1849).Google Scholar

115 Under the U.S. Constitution (article II, section 4), the President can be impeached for treason, bribery or high crimes and misdemeanors. For the Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton cases, the same phrase, ‘high crimes and misdemeanors,’ gave space for accusations that brought presidential acts to political light. In the case of Johnson, it is important to remember that the impeachment articles would rely on the supposed violation of the Tenure of Office Act; this means that an act with juridical effects should be present from the beginning. In Clinton's situation, ‘perjurious, false and misleading testimony’ and, also, ‘obstructing justice’ would not only have a juridical character but also a criminal one, although it was grave enough to remove the President from office. That is, for the phrase ‘high crimes and misdemeanors,’ a juridical qualification should stand, even if not a criminal one: The question is if, for the safety of democratic procedures, courts can avoid impeachment processes used only for controversial or illegal political aims. See Stephens, Otis, Jr. & John Scheb II, American Constitutional Law: Sources of Power and Restraint 174 (2008). Although Tribe recognizes that no judicial oversight is due in impeachment processes, he calls for a congressional responsibility on interpreting ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ to avoid understanding it as “[a] … category … purely politicized in character or definition ….” [Laurence Tribe, American Constitutional Law, 154 (2000)]. It seems to me that, on one hand, the object of impeachment articles must put the constitutional project in peril, must be a grave act; on the other hand, if the offenses do not have to be criminal, for the reasons the President can be severely punished and presidentialism calls for executive stability, criminal procedural guarantees must be granted to the accused. An accusation that, for the sake of being constructed, must rely on reading several different statutes, depend on a court's surprisingly overruling, dismiss clear Presidential decisions on a complicated chain of command or stay in the realm of political administration or budget politics, cannot simply be read as an impeachment offense. That is why courts must, in cases like these, oversee the procedural rules and the basic substantial accusation.Google Scholar

116 Czech Const., ch. II, article 65, 2.Google Scholar

117 Klaus was impeached by the Senate on March 4, 2013; three days later, his term was over. The Czech Republic Constitutional Court holding was handed down on March 28, 2013. It is interesting to compare this case with Brazil's ex-President Fernando Collor: While Collor resigned right after the Senate session that would try him had started, the Brazilian Supreme Court decided that even if he could no longer be condemned to losing office, there was no obstacle in the Brazilian Constitution to apply to him the exclusion from public offices for eight years established in article 52. See Court, Brazilian Supreme, MS 21.689, Dec. 16, 1993, http://www.stf.jus.br/arquivo/cms/sobrestfconhecastfjulgamentohistorico/anexo/ms21689.pdf.Google Scholar

118 S. Korea Const., ch. III, article 65, 2 and 3; ch. VI, article 1, 2.Google Scholar

119 Issacharoff, supra note 58, at 199.Google Scholar

120 See Boadle, Anthony & Brito, Ricardo, Brazil Electoral Court Dismisses Case That Could Have Ousted President, Reuters (June 9, 2017, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-politics-ruling-idUSKBN19033V.Google Scholar

121 See Maus, Ingeborg, Judiciário como superego da sociedade: o papel da atividade jurisprudencial na “sociedade órfã”, 58 Novos Estudos Cebrap, 183–202 (2000); Jürgen Habermas, ‘Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy‘ §6 (1996).Google Scholar

122 See Cattoni, Marcelo, Devido Processo Legislativo'(3rd ed., Fórum 2016); Álvaro Cruz, Jurisdição Constitucional Democrática (2nd ed., Arraes Editores 2015); Lênio Streck, Jurisdição Constitucional e Decisão Jurídica (3rd ed., RT, 2013); Meyer, supra note 46.Google Scholar

123 Issacharoff, supra note 58, at 246. In 2014, the Rousseff/Temer (PT/MDB, mostly) slate beat the Aécio/Nunes slate (PSDB) by a small margin of 3.3% of the total votes. See Watts, Jonathan, Brazilian Election: One Battle ver but Another Begins for Dilma Rousseff, Guardian (Oct. 27, 2014), https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/27/dilma-rouseff-brazil-election-president-battle.Google Scholar

124 In analyzing a lawsuit against the constitutional amendment procedure that created an austerity program for the next 20 years in Brazil (Braz. Const. Amend. nº 95 of 2016), Justice Barroso denied any aggression to the entrenchment clauses established in the Brazilian Constitution (article 60, § 4º, among them, fundamental rights and popular periodical vote) and affirmed his own view on the necessity of austerity measures and the “size” of the Brazilian state (Brazilian Supreme Court, MS 34.448, Oct. 10, 2016, http://www.stf.jus.br/arquivo/cms/noticiaNoticiaStf/anexo/MS34448.pdf). The argument sounded much more like a free adherence to the institutional economic models designed by Hirschl by which judicial review should act as the guarantor of investors' main interests regarding how an economy should function. For an analysis that reads the constitutional amendment as a ‘dismemberment’ of social rights that are part of the Brazilian Constitution of 1988, see Albert, Richard, Constitutional Amendment and Dismemberment, 43 YJIL 1, 41–43 (2018).Google Scholar

Also in 2016, the Brazilian Supreme Court promoted severe limits to public servants' right to strike, allowing state agencies to discount wage values correspondent to days that were not worked (Brazilian Supreme Court, RE 693.456, Oct. 27, 2016, http://www.stf.jus.br/arquivo/cms/noticiaNoticiaStf/anexo/RE693456.pdf). Justice Fux mentioned the economic crises Brazil was facing and the possibility of worker uprisings. The Brazilian Supreme Court's approach to economic issues and its increasing judicialization of politics can be compared with the U.S. Supreme Court's point of view and with the constitutionalization movement in Israel that happened pari passu with economic liberalization.Google Scholar

Indeed, the pro-constitutionalization stance of Israel's economic elite is not be surprising given the American experience of “market friendly” constitutional jurisprudence. The U.S. Supreme Court—the most frequently cited producer of constitutional rights jurisprudence in western world— has long been a zealous guardian of economic liberties and has maintained its historic position on the right of the American spectrum of economic thought.Google Scholar

As in other western countries, there has also been a sustained attempt by economic elites in Israel in recent years to dismantle the country's local version of the Keynesian welfare state and to install market-oriented economic policies ….“ (Hirschl, supra note 7, at 61).Google Scholar

125 See United Democratic Movement v. The President of the Republic of South Africa, 2003 (1) SALR 495 (CC) (S. Afr.).Google Scholar

126 Brazilian Supreme Court, MS's 26.602, 26.603 and 26.604, Apr. 10, 2007, http://redir.stf.jus.br/paginadorpub/paginador.jsp?docTP=AC&docID=555539.Google Scholar

127 See Issacharoff's observation on South African Constitutional Court democracy's restrictive account and compare it to what Brazilian Supreme Court had been refusing to do concerning Rousseff's impeachment. (“Unfortunately, the challenge of creating a substantive constitutional doctrine of democratic integrity proved a step too far, at least initially. Instead, the court retreated to a formalist account of the constitution as guaranteeing primarily procedural norms and individual rights and not a broader commitment to democratic engagement”) (Issacharoff, supra note 58, at 252).Google Scholar

128 Argentina, Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nación (CSJN) (National Supreme Court of Justice), CSJ 368/1998, (Feb. 14, 2017), http://www.cij.gov.ar/nota-24822.html.Google Scholar

129 Venezuela, El Tribunal Supremo de Justicia, Sala Constitucional, Recursos de Interpretación (Mar. 3, 2017).Google Scholar

130 Hirschl, supra note 7, at 11. Hirschl presents six main scenarios of constitutionalization: a) the reconstruction wave post World War II; b) the independence scenario of post-colonial countries; c) the single transition scenario from authoritarian to democratic rule, including that of Brazil; d) the dual transition scenario from both authoritarian and socialist models; e) the incorporation scenario that captures the situations of countries that were impacted by international and supranational norms, like Sweden, Denmark, and the United Kingdom; and f) the “no apparent” scenario with constitutional reforms that do not significantly change political and economic regimes, like Canada and New Zealand.Google Scholar

131 Souza divides Brazilian society into the following categories: a) the economic and moneyed class or elite; b) the medium class that serves the domination of the moneyed elite in disfavor of the popular classes; c) a working class; and d) the excluded class, which is situated under the dignity qualification. The sociologist uses Bourdieu's ideas to create these categories, referring not only to economic capital but also to cultural and personal relationship capital. The medium class, in which judges could be included, uses a great amount of cultural capital but also, of course, needs economic and social capital. See Souza, supra note 6, at 59–60.Google Scholar

132 See Supremo Tribunal Federal (S.T.F.) (highest court of appeals on constitutional matters), MI 372, Aug. 1, 1994, http://redir.stf.jus.br/paginadorpub/paginador.jsp?docTP=AC&docID=81794 (Braz.)Google Scholar

133 See Supremo Tribunal Federal (S.T.F.), ADI 4.277 and ADPF 132, May 5, 2011, http://redir.stf.jus.br/paginadorpub/paginador.jsp?docTP=AC&docID=628633; Supremo Tribunal Federal (S.T.F.), ADPF 187, June 15, 2011, http://redir.stf.jus.br/paginadorpub/paginador.jsp?docTP=TP&docID=5956195; Supremo Tribunal Federal (S.T.F.), ADPF 54, Apr. 12, 2012, http://redir.stf.jus.br/paginadorpub/paginador.jsp?docTP=TP&docID=3707334; Supremo Tribunal Federal (S.T.F.) (highest court of appeals on constitutional matters), ADI 3.510, May 29, 2008, http://redir.stf.jus.br/paginadorpub/paginador.jsp?docTP=AC&docID=611723; Supremo Tribunal Federal (S.T.F.), ADPF 186, Apr. 26, 2012, http://redir.stf.jus.br/paginadorpub/paginador.jsp?docTP=TP&docID=6984693; see also Paulo lotti, STF: Um Tribunal Amigo “Apenas” de Liberdades Individuais?, Justificando (July 11, 2018), http://justificando.cartacapital.com.br/2016/10/28/stf-um-tribunal-amigo-apenas-de-liberdades-individuais-de-autonomia-privada/.Google Scholar

134 The Brazilian Supreme Court recognizes that if due legislative process is not applied by the National Congress, Deputies and Senator can appeal to the court to suspend or interrupt the proposal. See the leading case, prior to the Constitution of 1988: Brazilian Supreme Court, MS 20.257, http://redir.stf.jus.br/paginadorpub/paginador.jsp?docTP=AC&docID=85046.Google Scholar

135 See Hirschl, supra note 7, at 44.Google Scholar

136 See Tushnet, Mark & Khosla, Madhav, Introduction to Unstable Constitutionalism: Law and Politics in South Asia, 5 (Mark Tushnet & Madhav Khosla eds., 2015).Google Scholar

137 Osama Siddique, The Judicialization of Politics in Pakistan: The Supreme Court After the Lawyer's Movement, in Unstable Constitutionalism: Law and Politics in South Asia, 160 (Mark Tushnet & Madhav Khosla eds., 2015).Google Scholar

138 See Braz. Const., tit I, article 1º, n. III; article 3º, n. III; article 4º, sole paragraph; tit. II, ch. I, arts. 5º; ch. III, arts. 6º until 11; tit. VII, ch. I, article 170; tit. VIII, ch. VI, article 225.Google Scholar

139 The Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin allowed the Federal Attorney General to investigate eight Temer Ministers, including House of Representatives and Federal Senate presidents, twenty-four senators, forty federal deputies, three state governors, and former Presidents Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Lula, and Dilma Rousseff (Dilma, Lula e FHC têm pedido de investigação na Lava Jato encaminhado a outras instâncias, UOL (Apr. 11, 2017), https://noticias.uol.com.br/politica/ultimas-noticias/2017/04/11/fachin-encaminha-pedidos-de-abertura-de-inquerito-de-dilma-lula-e-fhc-a-outros-foros.htm.Google Scholar

140 This is not, of course, a Brazilian privilege. See Levitsky, Steve & Zibllat, Daniel, How Democracies Die? (2018); David Runciman, How Democracies End (2018).Google Scholar