The Unwritten Brazilian Constitution offers an unexplored topic outside Portuguese language: the leading cases on human rights in the Brazilian Supreme Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal - STF). The Brazilian Constitution of 1988 represents an institutional framework able to restructure the relationship between the powers after the military dictatorship. The constituents drafted the Brazilian Constitution in order to set an extensive system of judicial protection for fundamental rights, by means of several instruments that have strengthened access to the Judiciary. Because the Brazilian Constitution has an extensive list of fundamental rights, the STF was called to interpret them several times and it developed an unwritten understanding of these fundamental rights. These decisions are not available to the international community since they are not translated to English. Based on this gap, this original book illustrates the main rulings on human rights analyzed by great scholars in Brazil. The text presents a deep discussion regarding the characteristics of the cases and demonstrates how the STF has built the legal arguments to interpret the extension of the fundamental rights.
Rubens Becak is full professor at the Universidade de Sao Paulo and visiting professor at the University of Salamanca's Brazilian Studies Center. Jairo Lima is professor at the Universidade Estadual do Norte do Parana.
TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 - The promises of the Brazilian Constitution of 1988 and the encounter between human rights and the Supreme Court Rubens Becak and Jairo Lima 2 - The Brazilian Supreme Court and its Political Protagonism: an Overview of the STF and its Rise to Prominence in Brazilian Politics after 1988 Murilo Gaspardo 3 - Freedom of speech: Ellwanger case Cristina Godoy Bernardo de Oliveira 4 - Asking "The Woman Question": Judicial Recognition of the Right to Abortion in Brazil Melina Girardi Fachin and Estefania Maria de Queiroz Barboza 5 - Embryonic stem-cells research at the Brazilian Supreme Court: or how to decide not to decide Lucas de Laurentiis 6 - Affirmative action at the Federal Supreme Court: the difficult promotion of racial equity in Brazil Maria Paula Bucci Dallari 7 - Gay marriage: the role of the Brazilian Supreme Court in recognizing the right to same-sex civil unions Fernando de Brito Alves 8 - Criminalization of homophobia - Trial at the Brazilian Supreme Court Simone Cristine Araujo Lopes 9 - Political Citizenship: Constitutional Commitments and limits in the exercise of Brazilian Party Democracy Orides Mezzaroba 10 - Corporate campaign donations Joao Andrade Neto 11 - Home-schooling and religious education in Brazil Nina Beatriz Stocco Ranieri 12 - High cost medicines and medical treatments in the Supremo Tribunal Federal (Brazilian Supreme Court) Fernanda Duarte and Rafael Mario Iorio Filho 13 - The presumption of innocence Jose Duarte Neto 14 - The unconstitutional state of affairs in Brazil's prisons Emerson Ademir Borges de Oliveira 15 - Expanding constitutional dialogues in the judicial review: what are the institutional and behavioral challenges of the Brazilian Supreme Court as a human rights guardian? Flavia Santiago Lima
The Brazilian Federal Supreme Court (STF) is one of the most important high courts in the world, but its caselaw is not well known. This landmark volume brings to English-language readers many of the most important decisions on rights, contextualized by leading Brazilian scholars. It is a wonderful addition to the literature on comparative constitutional law that opens the door to a rich and broad-ranging rights jurisprudence. -- Tom Ginsburg, University of Chicago
