Building Judicial Power in Latin America: Opposition Strategies and the Lessons of the Brazilian Case
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26851/RUCP.27.8Keywords:
politics, Latin America, Brazilian Supreme Court, Institutional design, Judicial preferencesAbstract
Studies on courts in Latin America have increasingly focused on high court behavior and its relationship with governments, explaining patterns of judicial activity with variables of institutional design, judicial preferences, and political context. In this paper, we point to additional complexities in the interaction between the variables discussed in the literature. First, as judicial preferences can directly shape institutional design, we argue that understanding transformations in patterns of judicial politics over time requires us to consider processes of building judicial power as relatively independent from the actual use of judicial power. Second, in this picture, the role of the political opposition is more crucial. Existing studies have largely tried to understand judicial behavior in relation to the incumbent government, which is decisive in shaping the strategic incentives around the use of judicial power. In the building of judicial power, however, the opposition plays a more crucial role. We illustrate these propositions in a brief discussion of all the Mandados de Segurança (MS) filed before the Brazilian Supreme Court between October 1988 and May 2016. These amparo-like remedies, although designed to have very limited scope and to reach the Supreme Court in rare circumstances, have expanded over time, as a tool for the exercise of judicial power in the political arena, through the interaction among judges, the political opposition and political minorities in general. The central role the MS have taken in Brazilian politics cannot be accounted for if we focus just on the relationship between the court and the incumbent government. The dynamics around these lawsuits illustrate a kind of partnership between the court and the opposition that, however inconsequential in the short run might create more favorable conditions for the future judicial exercise of power.
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References
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Arguelhes, D. W., (2018). Courts as the first and only legislative chambers? The Brazilian Supreme Court and the legalization of same-sex marriage. VRÜ Verfassung und Recht in Übersee, 50(3), 281-299.
Basabe-Serrano, S. (2012). Judges without Robes and Judicial Voting in Contexts of Institutional Instability: The Case of Ecuador's Constitutional Court, 1999-2007. Journal of Latin American Studies, 44(1), 127-161.
Bernal, C. (2013). Unconstitutional constitutional amendments in the case study of Colombia: An analysis of the justification and meaning of the constitutional replacement doctrine. International Journal of Constitutional Law, 11(2), 339-357.
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Brinks, D. (2004). Judicial reform and independence in Brazil and Argentina: the beginning of a new millennium. Tex. Int'l LJ, 40, 595.
Brinks, D. (2011). Faithful Servants of the Regime. Gretchen Helmke y Julio Ríos-Figueroa, Courts in Latin America, 128-153.
Brinks, D. M., & Blass, A. (2017). Rethinking judicial empowerment: The new foundations of constitutional justice. International Journal of Constitutional Law, 15(2), 296-331.
Brinks, D. M., & Gauri, V. (2014). The law’s majestic equality? The distributive impact of judicializing social and economic rights. Perspectives on Politics, 12(2), 375-393.
Carvalho, E. (2010). Trajetória da revisão judicial no desenho constitucional brasileiro: tutela, autonomia e judicialização. Sociologias, 12(23).
Chávez, R. B., Ferejohn, J. A., & Weingast, B. R. (2011). A theory of the politically independent judiciary. Courts in Latin America, 219.
Couso, J. A. (2006). The changing role of law and courts in Latin America: From an obstacle to social change to a tool of social equity. na.
Couso, J., & Hilbink, L. (2011). From Quietism to Incipient Activism. In Courts in Latin America, Cambridge University Press, New York, 99-127.
Couso, J., Huneeus, A., & Sieder, R. (Eds.). (2010). Cultures of legality: judicialization and political activism in Latin America. Cambridge University Press.
Domingo, P. (2000). Judicial independence: the politics of the Supreme Court in Mexico. Journal of Latin American Studies, 32(3), 705-735.
Dotan, Y., & Hofnung, M. (2005). Legal Defeats-Political Wins: Why Do Elected Representatives Go to Court? Comparative Political Studies, 38(1), 75-103.
Espinosa, M. J. C., & Landau, D. (2017). Colombian constitutional law: leading cases. Oxford University Press.
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Ferejohn, J. A., & Kramer, L. D. (2002). Independent judges, dependent judiciary: Institutionalizing judicial restraint. NYuL REv., 77, 962.
Finkel, J. (2008). Judicial reform as political insurance. Notre Dame: Uni-versity of Notre Dame.
Gargarella, R. (1998). Después del diluvio. El perfeccionismo conservador en la nueva jurisprudencia de la Corte Suprema (1990-1997). Desarrollo Económico, 439-456.
Gargarella, R., & Roux, T. (2017). Courts and Social Transformation in New Democracies: an institutional voice for the poor? Routledge.
Gauri, V., & Brinks, D. M. (2008). Courting Social Justice. The World Bank.
Ginsburg, T. (2003). Judicial review in new democracies: Constitutional courts in Asian cases. Cambridge University Press.
Helmke, G. (2002). The logic of strategic defection: Court-executive relations in Argentina under dictatorship and democracy. American Political Science Review, 96(2), 291-303.
Helmke, G. (2005). Enduring Uncertainty: Court-Executive Relations in Argentina During the 1990s and Beyond. Argentine Democracy: The Politics of Institutional Weakness, 139-162.
Helmke, G., & Levitsky, S. (2004). Informal institutions and comparative politics: A research agenda. Perspectives on politics, 2(4), 725-740.
Helmke, G., & Levitsky, S. (Eds.). (2006). Informal institutions and democracy: Lessons from Latin America. JHU Press.
Helmke, G., & Ríos-Figueroa, J. (Eds.). (2011). Courts in Latin America. Cambridge University Press.
Helmke, G., & Rosenbluth, F. (2009). Regimes and the rule of law: Judicial independence in comparative perspective. Annual Review of Political Science, 12, 345-366.
Helmke, G., & Staton, J. K. (2011). The Puzzling Judicial Politics of Latin America. Courts in Latin America, 306-31.
Ingram, M. C. (2015). Judicial Power in Latin America. Latin American Research Review, 50(1), 250-260.
Kapiszewski, D. (2012). High courts and economic governance in Argentina and Brazil. Cambridge University Press.
Kapiszewski, D. (2013). Economic Governance on Trial: High Courts and Elected Leaders in Argentina and Brazil. Latin American Politics and Society, 55(4), 47-73.
Kapiszewski, D., & Taylor, M. M. (2008). Doing courts justice? Studying judicial politics in Latin America. Perspectives on politics, 6(4), 741-767.
Koerner, A., & Freitas, L. B. D. (2013). O Supremo na Constituinte e a Constituinte no Supremo. Lua Nova: Revista de cultura e política, (88), 141-184.
Kornhauser, L. A. (2002). Is Judicial Independence a Useful Concept? Judicial Independence at the crossroads: an interdisciplinary approach, 45.
Llanos, M., Tibi Weber, C., Heyl, C., & Stroh, A. (2016). Informal interference in the judiciary in new democracies: A comparison of six African and Latin American cases. Democratization, 23(7), 1236-1253.
Llanos, M., & Lemos, L. B. (2013). Presidential Preferences? The Supreme Federal Tribunal Nominations in Democratic Brazil. Latin American Politics and Society, 55(2), 77-105.
Landau, D. E. (2015). Beyond judicial independence: The construction of judicial power in Colombia. Harvard University.
Mayhew, D. R. (1974). Congress: The electoral connection. Yale University Press.
Navia, P., & Ríos-Figueroa, J. (2005). The constitutional adjudication mosaic of Latin America. Comparative Political Studies, 38(2), 189-217.
Nunes, R. M. (2010a). Politics without insurance: democratic competition and Judicial Reform in Brazil. Comparative Politics, 42(3), 313-331.
Nunes, R. M. (2010b). Ideational origins of progressive judicial activism: The Colombian Constitutional Court and the right to health. Latin American Politics and Society, 52(3), 67-97.
Oquendo, A. R. (2007). The solitude of Latin America: The struggle for rights south of the border. Tex. Int'l LJ, 43, 185.
Pérez Liñan, A., & Castagnola, A. (2011). Institutional Design and External Independence: Assessing Judicial Appointments in Latin America.
Ríos-Figueroa, J. (2007). Fragmentation of Power and the Emergence of an Effective Judiciary in Mexico, 1994-2002. Latin American Politics and Society, 49(1), 31-57.
Ríos-Figueroa, J. (2011). Institutions for constitutional justice in Latin America. Courts in Latin America, 27-54.
Ríos-Figueroa, J., & Staton, J. K. (2012). An evaluation of cross-national measures of judicial independence. The Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization, 30(1), 104-137.
Ríos-Figueroa, J., & Taylor, M. M. (2006). Institutional determinants of the judicialisation of policy in Brazil and Mexico. Journal of Latin American Studies, 38(4), 739-766.
Roznai, Y. (2017). ‘We the People’,‘Qui, the People’and the Collective Body: Perceptions of Constituent Power.
Scribner, D. (2011). Courts, power, and rights in Argentina and Chile. Courts in Latin America, 248.
Schwartzberg, M. (2007). Democracy and legal change (Vol. 6). Cambridge University Press.
Stone, A., & Sweet, A. S. (1992). The birth of judicial politics in France: The Constitutional Council in comparative perspective. Oxford University Press on Demand.
Sweet, A. S. (1999). Judicialization and the Construction of Governance. Comparative Political Studies, 32(2), 147-184.
Sweet, A. S. (2000). Governing with judges: constitutional politics in Europe. Oxford University Press.
Smulovitz, C. (2005). Petitioning and creating rights: Judicialization in Argentina. In The Judicialization of Politics in Latin America (pp. 161-185). New York , Palgrave Macmillan .
Sussekind E. C. (2014). Constituição generosa ou vontade do tribunal.
Taylor, M. M. (2008). Judging policy: courts and policy reform in democratic Brazil. Stanford University Press.
Taylor, M. M., & Da Ros, L. (2008). Os partidos dentro e fora do poder: a judicialização como resultado contingente da estratégia política. Dados-Revista de Ciências Sociais, 51(4).
Uprimny Yepes, R. (2003). The constitutional court and control of presidential extraordinary powers in Colombia. Democratization, 10(4), 46-69.
Uprimny Yepes, R. (2006). The enforcement of social rights by the Colombian Constitutional Court: Cases and debates. na.
Uprimny Yepes, R. (2008). The enforcement of social rights by the Colombian Constitucional Court: cases and debates. Courts and Social Transformation in New Democracies. An Institucional Voice for the Poor, 127-151.
Uprimny Yepes, R. (2011). The recent transformation of constitutional law in Latin America: Trends and challenges.Texas Law Review89 (7), 1587-1609.
Vianna, L. W. et al. (1999). A judicialização da política e das relações sociais no Brasil. Editora Revan.
Vilhena Vieira, O (2008). Supremocracia. Revista Direito GV, 4(2).
Wilson, B. M. (2009). Institutional reform and rights revolutions in Latin America: The cases of Costa Rica and Colombia. Journal of Politics in Latin America, 1(2), 59-85.
Arguelhes, D. W., & Hartmann, I. A. (2017). Timing Control without Docket Control: How Individual Justices Shape the Brazilian Supreme Court’s Agenda. Journal of Law and Courts, 5(1), 105-140.
Arguelhes, D. W., & Ribeiro, L. M. (2016). Criatura e/ou criador: transformações do Supremo Tribunal Federal sob a Constituição de 1988. Revista Direito GV, 12(2), 405-440.
Arguelhes, D. W., (2018). Courts as the first and only legislative chambers? The Brazilian Supreme Court and the legalization of same-sex marriage. VRÜ Verfassung und Recht in Übersee, 50(3), 281-299.
Basabe-Serrano, S. (2012). Judges without Robes and Judicial Voting in Contexts of Institutional Instability: The Case of Ecuador's Constitutional Court, 1999-2007. Journal of Latin American Studies, 44(1), 127-161.
Bernal, C. (2013). Unconstitutional constitutional amendments in the case study of Colombia: An analysis of the justification and meaning of the constitutional replacement doctrine. International Journal of Constitutional Law, 11(2), 339-357.
Brewer-Carias, A. R. (2009). Constitutional protection of human rights in Latin America: a comparative study of amparo proceedings. Cambridge University Press.
Brinks, D. (2004). Judicial reform and independence in Brazil and Argentina: the beginning of a new millennium. Tex. Int'l LJ, 40, 595.
Brinks, D. (2011). Faithful Servants of the Regime. Gretchen Helmke y Julio Ríos-Figueroa, Courts in Latin America, 128-153.
Brinks, D. M., & Blass, A. (2017). Rethinking judicial empowerment: The new foundations of constitutional justice. International Journal of Constitutional Law, 15(2), 296-331.
Brinks, D. M., & Gauri, V. (2014). The law’s majestic equality? The distributive impact of judicializing social and economic rights. Perspectives on Politics, 12(2), 375-393.
Carvalho, E. (2010). Trajetória da revisão judicial no desenho constitucional brasileiro: tutela, autonomia e judicialização. Sociologias, 12(23).
Chávez, R. B., Ferejohn, J. A., & Weingast, B. R. (2011). A theory of the politically independent judiciary. Courts in Latin America, 219.
Couso, J. A. (2006). The changing role of law and courts in Latin America: From an obstacle to social change to a tool of social equity. na.
Couso, J., & Hilbink, L. (2011). From Quietism to Incipient Activism. In Courts in Latin America, Cambridge University Press, New York, 99-127.
Couso, J., Huneeus, A., & Sieder, R. (Eds.). (2010). Cultures of legality: judicialization and political activism in Latin America. Cambridge University Press.
Domingo, P. (2000). Judicial independence: the politics of the Supreme Court in Mexico. Journal of Latin American Studies, 32(3), 705-735.
Dotan, Y., & Hofnung, M. (2005). Legal Defeats-Political Wins: Why Do Elected Representatives Go to Court? Comparative Political Studies, 38(1), 75-103.
Espinosa, M. J. C., & Landau, D. (2017). Colombian constitutional law: leading cases. Oxford University Press.
Epstein, L., & Knight, J. (1997). The choices justices make. Sage.
Ferejohn, J. A., & Kramer, L. D. (2002). Independent judges, dependent judiciary: Institutionalizing judicial restraint. NYuL REv., 77, 962.
Finkel, J. (2008). Judicial reform as political insurance. Notre Dame: Uni-versity of Notre Dame.
Gargarella, R. (1998). Después del diluvio. El perfeccionismo conservador en la nueva jurisprudencia de la Corte Suprema (1990-1997). Desarrollo Económico, 439-456.
Gargarella, R., & Roux, T. (2017). Courts and Social Transformation in New Democracies: an institutional voice for the poor? Routledge.
Gauri, V., & Brinks, D. M. (2008). Courting Social Justice. The World Bank.
Ginsburg, T. (2003). Judicial review in new democracies: Constitutional courts in Asian cases. Cambridge University Press.
Helmke, G. (2002). The logic of strategic defection: Court-executive relations in Argentina under dictatorship and democracy. American Political Science Review, 96(2), 291-303.
Helmke, G. (2005). Enduring Uncertainty: Court-Executive Relations in Argentina During the 1990s and Beyond. Argentine Democracy: The Politics of Institutional Weakness, 139-162.
Helmke, G., & Levitsky, S. (2004). Informal institutions and comparative politics: A research agenda. Perspectives on politics, 2(4), 725-740.
Helmke, G., & Levitsky, S. (Eds.). (2006). Informal institutions and democracy: Lessons from Latin America. JHU Press.
Helmke, G., & Ríos-Figueroa, J. (Eds.). (2011). Courts in Latin America. Cambridge University Press.
Helmke, G., & Rosenbluth, F. (2009). Regimes and the rule of law: Judicial independence in comparative perspective. Annual Review of Political Science, 12, 345-366.
Helmke, G., & Staton, J. K. (2011). The Puzzling Judicial Politics of Latin America. Courts in Latin America, 306-31.
Ingram, M. C. (2015). Judicial Power in Latin America. Latin American Research Review, 50(1), 250-260.
Kapiszewski, D. (2012). High courts and economic governance in Argentina and Brazil. Cambridge University Press.
Kapiszewski, D. (2013). Economic Governance on Trial: High Courts and Elected Leaders in Argentina and Brazil. Latin American Politics and Society, 55(4), 47-73.
Kapiszewski, D., & Taylor, M. M. (2008). Doing courts justice? Studying judicial politics in Latin America. Perspectives on politics, 6(4), 741-767.
Koerner, A., & Freitas, L. B. D. (2013). O Supremo na Constituinte e a Constituinte no Supremo. Lua Nova: Revista de cultura e política, (88), 141-184.
Kornhauser, L. A. (2002). Is Judicial Independence a Useful Concept? Judicial Independence at the crossroads: an interdisciplinary approach, 45.
Llanos, M., Tibi Weber, C., Heyl, C., & Stroh, A. (2016). Informal interference in the judiciary in new democracies: A comparison of six African and Latin American cases. Democratization, 23(7), 1236-1253.
Llanos, M., & Lemos, L. B. (2013). Presidential Preferences? The Supreme Federal Tribunal Nominations in Democratic Brazil. Latin American Politics and Society, 55(2), 77-105.
Landau, D. E. (2015). Beyond judicial independence: The construction of judicial power in Colombia. Harvard University.
Mayhew, D. R. (1974). Congress: The electoral connection. Yale University Press.
Navia, P., & Ríos-Figueroa, J. (2005). The constitutional adjudication mosaic of Latin America. Comparative Political Studies, 38(2), 189-217.
Nunes, R. M. (2010a). Politics without insurance: democratic competition and Judicial Reform in Brazil. Comparative Politics, 42(3), 313-331.
Nunes, R. M. (2010b). Ideational origins of progressive judicial activism: The Colombian Constitutional Court and the right to health. Latin American Politics and Society, 52(3), 67-97.
Oquendo, A. R. (2007). The solitude of Latin America: The struggle for rights south of the border. Tex. Int'l LJ, 43, 185.
Pérez Liñan, A., & Castagnola, A. (2011). Institutional Design and External Independence: Assessing Judicial Appointments in Latin America.
Ríos-Figueroa, J. (2007). Fragmentation of Power and the Emergence of an Effective Judiciary in Mexico, 1994-2002. Latin American Politics and Society, 49(1), 31-57.
Ríos-Figueroa, J. (2011). Institutions for constitutional justice in Latin America. Courts in Latin America, 27-54.
Ríos-Figueroa, J., & Staton, J. K. (2012). An evaluation of cross-national measures of judicial independence. The Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization, 30(1), 104-137.
Ríos-Figueroa, J., & Taylor, M. M. (2006). Institutional determinants of the judicialisation of policy in Brazil and Mexico. Journal of Latin American Studies, 38(4), 739-766.
Roznai, Y. (2017). ‘We the People’,‘Qui, the People’and the Collective Body: Perceptions of Constituent Power.
Scribner, D. (2011). Courts, power, and rights in Argentina and Chile. Courts in Latin America, 248.
Schwartzberg, M. (2007). Democracy and legal change (Vol. 6). Cambridge University Press.
Stone, A., & Sweet, A. S. (1992). The birth of judicial politics in France: The Constitutional Council in comparative perspective. Oxford University Press on Demand.
Sweet, A. S. (1999). Judicialization and the Construction of Governance. Comparative Political Studies, 32(2), 147-184.
Sweet, A. S. (2000). Governing with judges: constitutional politics in Europe. Oxford University Press.
Smulovitz, C. (2005). Petitioning and creating rights: Judicialization in Argentina. In The Judicialization of Politics in Latin America (pp. 161-185). New York , Palgrave Macmillan .
Sussekind E. C. (2014). Constituição generosa ou vontade do tribunal.
Taylor, M. M. (2008). Judging policy: courts and policy reform in democratic Brazil. Stanford University Press.
Taylor, M. M., & Da Ros, L. (2008). Os partidos dentro e fora do poder: a judicialização como resultado contingente da estratégia política. Dados-Revista de Ciências Sociais, 51(4).
Uprimny Yepes, R. (2003). The constitutional court and control of presidential extraordinary powers in Colombia. Democratization, 10(4), 46-69.
Uprimny Yepes, R. (2006). The enforcement of social rights by the Colombian Constitutional Court: Cases and debates. na.
Uprimny Yepes, R. (2008). The enforcement of social rights by the Colombian Constitucional Court: cases and debates. Courts and Social Transformation in New Democracies. An Institucional Voice for the Poor, 127-151.
Uprimny Yepes, R. (2011). The recent transformation of constitutional law in Latin America: Trends and challenges.Texas Law Review89 (7), 1587-1609.
Vianna, L. W. et al. (1999). A judicialização da política e das relações sociais no Brasil. Editora Revan.
Vilhena Vieira, O (2008). Supremocracia. Revista Direito GV, 4(2).
Wilson, B. M. (2009). Institutional reform and rights revolutions in Latin America: The cases of Costa Rica and Colombia. Journal of Politics in Latin America, 1(2), 59-85.
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2018-09-29
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Building Judicial Power in Latin America: Opposition Strategies and the Lessons of the Brazilian Case. (2018). Revista Uruguaya De Ciencia Política, 27(1), 175-196. https://doi.org/10.26851/RUCP.27.8
