Justice, Professionalism, and Politics in the Exercise of Judicial Review by Brazil's Supreme Court

Oliveira, Fabiana Luci

doi:10.1590/1981-3847200800020004

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Article • Bras. Political Sci. Rev. 2 (2) • 2008 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1981-3847200800020004 copy

Justice, Professionalism, and Politics in the Exercise of Judicial Review by Brazil's Supreme Court

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

This study analyses interactions between Law, professionalism and politics. The primary intent is to understand the judicial behaviour of Brazil's Supreme Court in the development and consolidation of democracy, by analysing how its justices voted in decisions regarding the constitutionality of laws (judicial review) in the 1988-2003 period and investigating factors that influenced the Court's decisions. These decisions are analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively in search of: a) voting differences corresponding to the career of each member of the Court; b) justices’ attitudes as either Constitution interpreters or reproducers of legal texts; and c) the rapporteur's profile, as well as the profiles of the justices that voted with him/her.

I conclude that although political factors do shape the decision-making process of Brazil's Supreme Court to some extent, professionalism plays a central role in determining its judicial behaviour.

Keywords:
Brazil Supreme Court; Professionalism; Law and politics; Judicial politics

Justice	Former judge	Orientation	Number of ADINs
Célio Borja	No	Activist	1 (0.3)
Aldir Passarinho	Yes	Restrictive	2 (0.7)
Paulo Brossard	No	Activist	5 (1.7)
Francisco Rezek	No	Activist	7 (2.3)
Nélson Jobim	No	Activist	8 (2.7)
Celso de Mello	No	Activist	8 (2.7)
Gilmar Mendes	No	Restrictive	8 (2.7)
Sepúlveda Pertence	No	Activist	10 (3.3)
Ellen Gracie	Yes	Restrictive	12 (4.0)
Marco Aurélio	Yes	Activist	15 (5.0)
Octávio Gallotti	Yes	Restrictive	19 (6.3)
Sydney Sanches	Yes	Restrictive	28 (9.3)
Carlos Velloso	Yes	Activist	29 (9.7)
Moreira Alves	No	Restrictive	30 (10.0)
Néri da Silveira	Yes	Restrictive	32 (10.7)
Maurício Corrêa	No	Restrictive	35 (11.7)
Ilmar Galvão	Yes	Restrictive	51 (17.0)
Total			300 (100.0 %)

	B	Odds [Exp(B)]
Justice is a career judge	-0,538	.584^ Significant at .01
Orientation: restrictive	0,027	1,027
President who appointed: military	0,818	2,266
Tenure in the Court	-0,061	0,941
Vote of rapporteur	8,489	4859.797^* ***** Significant at .000
Temporary injunction	2,895	18.083^* ***** Significant at .000
Petitioner: Prosecutor-General	0,151	1,163
Petitioner: political party	-1,319	.267^* ***** Significant at .000
Petitioner: associations	-0,435	0,647
Petitioner: OAB/AMB	-0,126	0,882
Origin of law: Federal Government	-0,775	.461^ Significant at .01
Origin of law: Judiciary	1,193	3.298^ Significant at .01
Object: partisan political issue	-0,874	0,417
Object: economy and tax	-1,633	.195^* ***** Significant at .000
Object: civil society	-0,279	0,756
Administration: Sarney	-1,341	0,262
Administration: Collor	0,529	1,696
Administration: Itamar	-0,386	0,68
Administration: Fernando Henrique (2nd admin.)	-2,86	.057^* ***** Significant at .000
Administration: Lula	-1,286	0,276
Constant	-2,89	,056^* ***** Significant at .000

	2	4	5	6	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
1	0.91	0.90	0.98	0.93	0.89	0.89	0.96	0.88	0.81	0.92	0.99	0.99	0.98	1.0
2		0.88	0.94	0.94	0.87	0.87	0.93	0.91	0.84	0.91	0.94	0.90	0.95	^* * The justices were codified following the order of seniority: Moreira Alves (1); Néri da Silveira (2); Aldir G. Passarinho (3); Francisco Rezek (4); Sydney Sanches (5); Octávio Gallotti (6); Carlos Madeira (7); Célio Borja (8); Paulo Brossard (9); Sepúlveda Pertence (10); Celso de Mello (11); Carlos Velloso (12); Marco Aurélio (13); Ilmar Galvão (14); Maurício Corrêa (15); Nélson Jobim (16); Ellen Gracie (17); and Gilmar Mendes (18).
4			0.89	0.87	0.71	0.89	0.92	0.92	0.81	0.87	0.94	^* * The justices were codified following the order of seniority: Moreira Alves (1); Néri da Silveira (2); Aldir G. Passarinho (3); Francisco Rezek (4); Sydney Sanches (5); Octávio Gallotti (6); Carlos Madeira (7); Célio Borja (8); Paulo Brossard (9); Sepúlveda Pertence (10); Celso de Mello (11); Carlos Velloso (12); Marco Aurélio (13); Ilmar Galvão (14); Maurício Corrêa (15); Nélson Jobim (16); Ellen Gracie (17); and Gilmar Mendes (18).	^* * The justices were codified following the order of seniority: Moreira Alves (1); Néri da Silveira (2); Aldir G. Passarinho (3); Francisco Rezek (4); Sydney Sanches (5); Octávio Gallotti (6); Carlos Madeira (7); Célio Borja (8); Paulo Brossard (9); Sepúlveda Pertence (10); Celso de Mello (11); Carlos Velloso (12); Marco Aurélio (13); Ilmar Galvão (14); Maurício Corrêa (15); Nélson Jobim (16); Ellen Gracie (17); and Gilmar Mendes (18).	^* * The justices were codified following the order of seniority: Moreira Alves (1); Néri da Silveira (2); Aldir G. Passarinho (3); Francisco Rezek (4); Sydney Sanches (5); Octávio Gallotti (6); Carlos Madeira (7); Célio Borja (8); Paulo Brossard (9); Sepúlveda Pertence (10); Celso de Mello (11); Carlos Velloso (12); Marco Aurélio (13); Ilmar Galvão (14); Maurício Corrêa (15); Nélson Jobim (16); Ellen Gracie (17); and Gilmar Mendes (18).
5				0.96	0.96	0.89	0.94	0.82	0.83	0.93	0.98	0.98	0.97	1.0
6					0.87	0.88	0.90	0.89	0.80	0.91	0.96	1.0	^* * The justices were codified following the order of seniority: Moreira Alves (1); Néri da Silveira (2); Aldir G. Passarinho (3); Francisco Rezek (4); Sydney Sanches (5); Octávio Gallotti (6); Carlos Madeira (7); Célio Borja (8); Paulo Brossard (9); Sepúlveda Pertence (10); Celso de Mello (11); Carlos Velloso (12); Marco Aurélio (13); Ilmar Galvão (14); Maurício Corrêa (15); Nélson Jobim (16); Ellen Gracie (17); and Gilmar Mendes (18).	^* * The justices were codified following the order of seniority: Moreira Alves (1); Néri da Silveira (2); Aldir G. Passarinho (3); Francisco Rezek (4); Sydney Sanches (5); Octávio Gallotti (6); Carlos Madeira (7); Célio Borja (8); Paulo Brossard (9); Sepúlveda Pertence (10); Celso de Mello (11); Carlos Velloso (12); Marco Aurélio (13); Ilmar Galvão (14); Maurício Corrêa (15); Nélson Jobim (16); Ellen Gracie (17); and Gilmar Mendes (18).
9						0.69	0.81	0.66	0.67	0.84	^* * The justices were codified following the order of seniority: Moreira Alves (1); Néri da Silveira (2); Aldir G. Passarinho (3); Francisco Rezek (4); Sydney Sanches (5); Octávio Gallotti (6); Carlos Madeira (7); Célio Borja (8); Paulo Brossard (9); Sepúlveda Pertence (10); Celso de Mello (11); Carlos Velloso (12); Marco Aurélio (13); Ilmar Galvão (14); Maurício Corrêa (15); Nélson Jobim (16); Ellen Gracie (17); and Gilmar Mendes (18).	^* * The justices were codified following the order of seniority: Moreira Alves (1); Néri da Silveira (2); Aldir G. Passarinho (3); Francisco Rezek (4); Sydney Sanches (5); Octávio Gallotti (6); Carlos Madeira (7); Célio Borja (8); Paulo Brossard (9); Sepúlveda Pertence (10); Celso de Mello (11); Carlos Velloso (12); Marco Aurélio (13); Ilmar Galvão (14); Maurício Corrêa (15); Nélson Jobim (16); Ellen Gracie (17); and Gilmar Mendes (18).	^* * The justices were codified following the order of seniority: Moreira Alves (1); Néri da Silveira (2); Aldir G. Passarinho (3); Francisco Rezek (4); Sydney Sanches (5); Octávio Gallotti (6); Carlos Madeira (7); Célio Borja (8); Paulo Brossard (9); Sepúlveda Pertence (10); Celso de Mello (11); Carlos Velloso (12); Marco Aurélio (13); Ilmar Galvão (14); Maurício Corrêa (15); Nélson Jobim (16); Ellen Gracie (17); and Gilmar Mendes (18).	^* * The justices were codified following the order of seniority: Moreira Alves (1); Néri da Silveira (2); Aldir G. Passarinho (3); Francisco Rezek (4); Sydney Sanches (5); Octávio Gallotti (6); Carlos Madeira (7); Célio Borja (8); Paulo Brossard (9); Sepúlveda Pertence (10); Celso de Mello (11); Carlos Velloso (12); Marco Aurélio (13); Ilmar Galvão (14); Maurício Corrêa (15); Nélson Jobim (16); Ellen Gracie (17); and Gilmar Mendes (18).
10							0.87	0.91	0.86	0.86	0.92	0.92	0.92	0.91
11								0.91	0.83	0.89	0.98	0.98	0.98	1.0
12									0.84	0.88	0.95	0.95	0.97	0.98
13										0.82	0.86	0.83	0.93	0.92
14											0.94	0.99	0.98	1.0
15												0.99	0.98	1.0
16													0.98	1.0
17														1.0

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[TFN1] ^*
Justice Carlos Madeira (Former judge, Restrictive) was not rapporteur of any ADIN in the sample.