Abstract
Regarding the recent debates about the public policies related to affirmative actions, as is the case of racial quotas, the following problem arises: how does the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court act in regard to the protection of minorities, based on the decision rendered in ADC 41? The deductive method, based on bibliographic research and case analysis, is used in the structuring and organization of the text. In order to achieve the proposed objective, ideas about constitutionality control and its strategic function in the juridical-constitutional order, are first approached, and then the affirmative action policies are analyzed, such as the role of the Brazilian Supreme Court in the protection of minorities. Finally, the decision recently issued under ADC 41, which refers to the constitutionality of quotas for black people in public tenders, is analyzed critically. It concludes that the STF adopts a position of protection to minorities, and also adopts a concept of minorities not related to the numerical issue, but with the recognition of a group of people stigmatized historically and socially, which is a victim of structural discrimination, and therefore deserves to be protected by public policies of social inclusion and non-discrimination.
Keywords:
Brazilian Federal Supreme Court; public policies for social inclusion and no-discrimination; affirmative actions; minorities; racial quotas