The Judicialization of the Public Budget: An Analysis of the Institutional Role Played by the Judiciary on the definition of the Public Budget.

• Grant number: 12/06294-3
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Effective date (Start): July 01, 2012
• Effective date (End): June 30, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Law - Public Law
• Principal researcher: Marcos Paulo Verissimo
• Grantee: Natalia Pires de Vasconcelos
• Home Institution: Faculdade de Direito (FD). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The effects of the frequent judicialization of important social rights in Brazil, such as the right to health or the right to education, have been indirectly affecting public budget planning and execution decisions. In the last five years the Brazilian's Supreme Federal Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal) has decided that the budgetary statutes can be submitted to the court's constitutional review, giving itself a more prominent role as a veto player in the budgetary process. This Masters Project intends to panoramically evaluate the Judiciary interference over the public budgetary process of planning and executing expenditures in order to evaluate what is the role of the Judiciary in the institutional dynamics played so typically by the Legislative and the Executive Power.This study is divided in two parts. The first one assesses the federal budget and evaluates the impact of federal expenditures towards the compliance of judicial decisions. That information guides the research to determine the veto power of the Judiciary in the federal process of budgetary decisions, especially regarding its relationship with the federal Legislative and Executive Power. In the second part, through the analysis judicial decisions and the recent empirical studies regarding the social rights judicialization in Brazil, this research will analyze the Judiciary position regarding the budgetary effects of its decisions especially in the case of the judicialization of the right to health and the right to education. The intention here is to verify how judges and their decisions face arguments normally presented by the public authorities regarding public resource limitations to the fulfillment of the parties' alleged rights. The research's hypothesis foreshadows that the Judiciary in Brazil actually plays an important role in the budgetary process especially through erratic decisions of its judges, who normally do not consider the public authorities arguments regarding resource limitations, particularly when social rights are involved. These decisions condition the behavior of the other political actors and place the Judiciary as an active part in the budgetary process that must be considered in its formulation and analysis.

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

VASCONCELOS, Natalia Pires de. The judiciary and the public budget: comments on the budget impact of judicial decisions. 2015. Master's Dissertation - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Direito (FD/SBD) São Paulo.