Operation car wash and the regulation of campaign finance corruption in Brazil: lessons from the U.S. experience

• Grant number: 22/06246-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: January 01, 2023
• End date: December 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Law - Public Law
• Principal Investigator: Luís Virgílio Afonso da Silva
• Grantee: Arthur Guerra de Andrade Filho
• Supervisor: Richard H. Pildes
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Direito (FD). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: New York University, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 20/12205-0 - Between criminal bribery and legitimate political donation: the Brazilian judiciary and the regulation of political finance, BP.PD

Abstract

The problem of money in politics has been a major concern for the Supreme Court and lower courts of the United States of America, and for the American constitutional debate at least since the 1970s. They have deeply discussed cases regarding the boundary between a legitimate political donation or a gift, and a bribe; and have developed the constitutional law of democracy approach which inspired the theoretical framework, assumptions, and research questions of the ongoing post-doctoral research funded by FAPESP about Operation Car Wash and campaign finance corruption in Brazil. Considering that U.S. courts and academics have the longest tradition in the world in deeply discussing cases about corruption in campaign finance and gifts given to politicians, it is no coincidence that the Brazilian Judiciary in Operation Car Wash cases has been making reference to some paradigmatic rulings from U.S. courts on the topic - although they have been doing that in an unsystematic manner. The period of research to be developed at New York University (NYU) School of Law under the supervision of Professors Richard Pildes and Samuel Issacharoff aims to substantially contribute to the ongoing post-doctoral research by adding a valuable analytical dimension: the experience of the United States. More specifically, the main objective of the research internship abroad is to enrich the analyses of the results of the ongoing post-doctoral research about the Brazilian Judiciary, by rigorously examining the experience of the United States in dealing with similar cases about corruption in campaign finance and gifts given to politicians. (AU)