Politics without insurance democratic competition and judicial reform in Brazil

Comparative Politics

Volumn 42, Issue 3, 2010, Pages 313-331

  Nunes, Rodrigo M ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 85036765400     PISSN: 00104159     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.5129/001041510X12911363509756     Document Type: Article

References (93)

1. Torbjörn Vallinder, "When the Courts Go Marching In," in The Global Expansion of Judicial Power, ed. C. Neal Täte and Torbjörn Vallinder (New York: New York University Press, 1995), 13.
2. J. Mark Ramseyer, "The Puzzling (Independence of Courts: A Comparative Approach," Journal of Legal Studies, 23 (June 1994): 721-47.
3. Tom Ginsburg, Judicial Review in New Democracies: Constitutional Courts in Asian Cases (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 22-33;
4. Ran Hirschl, Towards Juristocracy: The Origins and Consequences of the New Constitutionalism (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004), 38-49.
5. Jodi Finkel, Judicial Reform as Political Insurance: Argentina, Peru, and Mexico in the 1990s (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2008), 29-31.
6. Pedro Magalhães, "The Politics of Judicial Reform in Eastern Europe," Comparative Politics, 32 (October 1999): 43-62.
7. Ginsburg, Judicial Review, 82-89.
8. Keith Whittington, "'Interpose Your Friendly Hand': Political Supports for the Exercise of Judicial Review by the United States Supreme Court," American Political Science Review, 99 (November 2005): 583-96.
9. See, also, Mark Graber, "The Nonmajoritarian Difficulty: Legislative Deference to the Judiciary," Studies in American Political Development, 7 (Spring 1993): 35-73.
10. Barry Ames, The Deadlock of Democracy in Brazil (Ann Arbor Michigan University Press, 2002).
11. Whittington, "Interpose," p. 584.
12. Stephen Holmes, "Lineages of the Rule of Law," in Democracy and the Rule of Law, ed. José Maria Maravall and Adam Przeworski (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 25-28.
13. Ginsburg, Judicial Review, pp. 75-77;
14. Lee Epstein, Jack Knight, and Olga Shvetsova, "The Role of Constitutional Courts in the Establishment and Maintenance of Democratic Systems of Government," Law and Society Review, 35 (2001): 117-64.
15. John Ferejohn and Larry D. Kramer, "Independent Judges, Dependent Judiciary: Institutionalizing Judicial Restraint," New York University Law Review, 77 (October 2002): 962-1039.
16. Lisa Hilbink, "Assessing the New Constitutionalism," Comparative Politics, 40 (January 2008): 227-45.
17. Ginsburg, Judicial Review, 45.
18. The problem in these cases is that judges may become antagonistic toward the government once the coalition that appointed them is replaced. Robert Dahl, "Decision-Making in a Democracy: The Supreme Court as a National Policy-Maker," Journal of Public Law, 6 (1957): 279-95.
19. Such selection strategy is particularly feasible in countries of a civil law tradition like those of Latin America and continental Europe. See John Henry Merryman, The Civil Law Tradition: An Introduction to the Legal Systems of Western Europe and Latin America (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1985), 19-24 and 34-38.
20. Rebecca Bill Chavez, The Rule of Law in Nascent Democracies: Judicial Politics in Argentina (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2004), 15-17.
21. In 1983 President Alfonsin appointed all the new members of the Argentine Supreme Court, only to later request that the number of justice be increased. His original appointees released many decisions against the government, and according to critics he was attempting to form a more acquiescent Court. See Bill Chavez, Rule of Law, p. 41 and pp. 45-46.
22. See Daniel Brinks, "Judicial Reform and Independence in Brazil and Argentina: The Beginning of a New Millennium?" Texas International Law Journal, 40 (Spring 2005): 595-622.
23. Samey was initially elected vice president but took office when the president-elect died before ascending to power.
24. Rogério Arantes, Judiciário e Política no Brasil (São Paulo: IDESP and Editora Sumaré, 1997), ch. 2;
25. William C. Prillaman, The Judiciary and Democratic Decay in Latin America (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2001), 79-81.
26. Kurt Weyland, The Politics of Market Reform in Fragile Democracies (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002), ch. 8.
27. "Oposição usa STF para Barrar Governistas," Folha de São Paulo, November 16, 1997.
28. Rogério Arantes, "Jurisdição Política Constitucional," in Reforma do Judiciário, ed. Maria Tereza Sadek (São Paulo: Fundação Konrád Adenauer, 2001).
29. "Frase," Folha de São Paulo, March 20, 2004.
30. Brinks, "Judicial Reform and Independence," p. 620.
31. Matthew Taylor, Judging Policy: Courts and Policy Reform in Democratic Brazil (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2008), ch. 2.
32. Megan J. Ballard, "The Clash between Local Courts and Global Economics: The Politics of Judicial Reform in Brazil," Berkeley Journal of International Law, 17 (1999): 230-76.
33. Taylor, Judging Policy, pp. 96-100.
34. Bill Chavez, Rule of Law, pp. 46-47.
35. Taylor, Judging Policy, pp. 40-41.
36. 33. Compiled by the author from data collected at the National Database of the Brazilian Judiciary (BNDPJ) at www.stf.gov.br, accessed on December 10, 2006.
37. Brasilio Sallum, Jr., "O Brasil sob Cardoso: Neoliberalismo e Desenvolvimentismo," Tempo Social: Revista de Sociologia da USP, 11 (October 1999): 23-47.
38. This data comes from the Database of Constitutionality Challenges against the Federal Government (DCCAFG), compiled by Matthew Taylor for his 2008 book on the judicialization of policy in Brazil.
39. See Marcus Faro de Castro, "Courts, Law and Democracy in Brazil," International Social Science Journal, 152 (June 1997): 241-52.
40. Taylor, Judging Policy, pp. 79-87, uses a binary logistic regression of all injunction decisions in the period in question to identify these likelihoods.
41. Taylor, Judging Policy, pp. 94-96.
42. Cristina Carvalho Pacheco, O Supremo Tribunal Federal e a Reforma do Estado, PhD Dissertation, Departamento de Ciência Política do Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas (Campinas: Universidade Estadual de Campinas, 2006), 186-88.
43. Vanessa Elias de Oliveira, "Judiciário e Privatizaç ões no Brasil: Existe uma Judicialização da Política?" Dados, 48 (July/September 1995): 559-87.
44. Interview with two former members of Cardoso's advisory team, Brasilia, November 2006, and Rio de Janeiro, December 2006.
45. Rafael Thomaz Favetti, O Controle de Constitucionalidade e Política Fiscal (Porto Alegre: SAFE, 2003), p. 153;
46. Oscar Vilhena Vieira, Supremo Tribunal Federal: Jurisprudência Política (São Paulo: Malheiros Editores, 1994), 230-31.
47. For Cardoso's quote see Roberto Pompeu de Toledo, O Presidente Segundo o Sociólogo (São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 1998), p. 30. Cardoso said this in the context of the already mentioned salary increase granted by the Court to public employees in order to match the increase granted to the military.
48. The term "solomonic" was used by Armando Castellar Pinheiro, a scholar of law and economics in Brazil, in a personal exchange.
49. "STF julga hoje reposição de planos econômicos." O Globo, August 10, 2000;
50. "Governo terá de corrigir FGTS," O Globo, August 11, 2000.
51. João Luiz M. Esteves, Direitos Fundamentais Sociais no Supremo Tribunal Federal (São Paulo: Editora Método, 2007), 135-36.
52. Castro, "Courts, Law and Democracy," p. 247.
53. Luís Roberto Barroso, O Controle de Constitucionalidade no Direito Brasileiro (São Paulo: Editora Saraiva, 2006), 235-37.
54. Fabiana Luci de Oliveira, "O Supremo Tribunal Federal no Processo de Transição Democrática: Uma Análise de Conteúdo dos Jornais Folha de S. Paulo e O Estado deS. Paulo" Revista de Sociologia Política, 22 (2004): 101-18.
55. Fabiana Luci de Oliveira, A Identidade Profissional dos Ministros do STF no Processo de Transição Democrática no Brasil (1979-1999), MA Thesis, Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (São Carlos: Universidade Federal de São Carlos, 2002), 123.
56. Anonymous interview with former STF justice, Brasilia, October 2006.
57. When word got out in 2006 that Lula might suggest a member of the PT to the Court, for example, political outcries forced him to capitulate. See "Oposição articula veto à indicação de petista ao STF," Valor Económico, January 11, 2006;
58. "Petistas perdem vaga em lista para o STF," O Estado de São Paulo, January 12, 2006.
59. Oliveira, A Identidade Profissional, pp. 67-71.
60. Interviews with former justice ministers Célio Borja, Bernardo Cabral, and Nelson Jobim, Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia, Fall 2006.
61. Leany Barreiro Lemos and Mariana Llanos, "O Senado e as Aprovações de Autoridades: Um Estudo Comparativo entre Argentina e Brasil," Revista Brasileira de Ciências Sociais, 22 (2007): 115-38.
62. Taylor, Judging Policy, pp. 86-87.
63. Maria Tereza Sadek, Magistrados: Uma Imagem em Movimento (Rio de Janeiro: FGV Editora, 2006), 51.
64. Arantes, "Jurisdição Política," p. 83.
65. See DCCAFG.
66. Luiz Werneck Vianna et ai., A Judicialização da Política e das Relações Sociais no Brasil (Rio de Janeiro: Editora Revan, 1999), 123-26.
67. See DCCAFG.
68. Taylor, Judging Policy, pp. 82-84.
69. "Em causa própria: O STF cumpriu o seu papel," O Globo, December 20, 2006.
70. Taylor, Judging Policy, pp. 82-84.
71. Scott Mainwaring, Rethinking Party Systems in the Third Wave of Democratization: The Case of Brazil (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1999).
72. See Marcus André Melo, Reformas Constitucionais no Brasil (Rio de Janeiro: Editora Revan, 2002).
73. Personal interview with former STF president, Brasília, November 2006.
74. "Brazil's Politics: The Judges Breathe New Life into Political Reform," The Economist, November 8, 2007.
75. Arantes, Judiciário e Política, 181-84.
76. Oscar Vilhena Vieira, Supremo Tribunal Federal: Jurisprudência Política (São Paulo: Malheiros Editores, 1994), 154.
77. Interview with former assembly member Plínio Arruda, São Paulo, December 2006.
78. Favetti, O Controle de Constitucionalidade, pp. 124-48.
79. Favetti, O Controle de Constitucionalidade, pp. 124-48. Ibid.
80. See BNDPJ.
81. Taylor, Judging Policy, p. 98.
82. See Favetti, O Controle de Constitucionalidade, pp. 138-40.
83. "Governo perde com reforma do judiciario," Folha de São Paulo, November 17, 2004.
84. Arantes, "Jurisdição Política," p. 33.
85. Ballard, "Clash between Local Courts," p. 255.
86. Arantes, "Jurisdição Política," p. 83.
87. "Efeito Vinculante de Decisões do STF Divide o Partido," Folha de São Paulo, March 18, 2004.
88. Interview with José Eduardo Cardozo, Brasilia, December 2006.
89. Brinks, "Judicial Reform and Independence," p. 620.
90. Tamir Moustafa, The Struggle for Constitutional Power: Law, Politics, and Economic Development in Egypt (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007).
91. Prillaman, Judiciary and Democratic Decay, pp. 123-24.
92. Lisa Hilbink, Judges beyond Politics in Democracy and Dictatorship: Lessons from Chile (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 179-88.
93. See Keith Whittington, "Preserving the 'Dignity and Influence of the Court': Political Supports for Judicial Review in the United States," in Rethinking Political Institutions, ed. Ian Shapiro, Stephen Skowronek, and Daniel Galvin (New York: New York University Press, 2006), p. 297, for the "harness" analogy applied to the United States.