The Brazilian Supremo Tribunal Federal Interference in the exercise of political offices

• Grant number: 20/03622-6
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Effective date (Start): March 01, 2021
• Effective date (End): February 28, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - State and Government
• Principal researcher: Rogério Bastos Arantes
• Grantee: Gabriela Fischer Armani
• Home Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

With greater intensity in the last legislature (2015-2018), the Brazilian Supreme Court was challenged to decide on requests for limitation, removal and interruption of the exercise of political offices in cases not expressly provided by law. Considering the emergence of a new dimension of judicial action, which produces effects in the exercise of institutional politics, the research project proposes the investigation of the decision-making behavior of the Brazilian Supremo Tribunal Federal when challenged to interfere in the exercise of political offices within the Executive and Legislative powers. The project aims (a) to describe the behavior of the Supreme Court over a broader period (between 1988 and 2018), in order to examine how the jurisprudence on the subject has evolved and (b) to verify whether the current interpretations about the behavior of the Supreme Court are confirmed in these cases, or if this scope of decision-making reflects a different pattern. The research is thought to be carried out in three stages: the first will consist of the elaboration of a descriptive table of the cases, involving analysis of the proponents, the votes, the jurisprudence, the composition of the court and the context of the decisions. The second stage will be dedicated to data analysis, which will be done with quantitative and qualitative methods. The third stage will embrace the comparison between the data and the theories of judicial behavior, since the research intends to describe and explain the judicial behavior in this matter. By choosing as research topic the direct interference without express legal provision of the Judiciary in other branches, this project will examine an empirical dimension of judicial behavior not yet explored in the literature, thus contributing to this area of studies. (AU)