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New Challenges of Constitutional Adjudication in Brazil

Featuring Minister Gilmar Mendes, President of the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil; Introduction and Comments by Judge Peter J. Messitte, U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland; Welcome Remarks by Paulo Sotero, Director of the Brazil Institute

Date & Time

Friday
Oct. 24, 2008
3:30pm – 5:30pm ET

Overview

Image removed. **To read the Special Report written by Gilmar Mendes, please click on the cover image to the left or scroll down to the report link at the bottom of the page. Below is a brief summary of the event's proceedings.**


Adopted in 1988, after 21 years of military rule, Brazil's Constitution guarantees a comprehensive set of fundamental rights to its citizens. It also gives great freedom to Brazil's Federal Supreme Court to conduct judicial review. In the last decade, the Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF)—the highest court in the country—has been "compelled to act" to compensate for administrative and legislative omissions concerning the extensive social agenda in the Constitution.

Ruling on controversial cases such as abortion and stem cell research, the STF has become a highly visible institution that plays a central role in Brazil's maturing democracy. In his first visit to the U.S. since assuming the rotating presidency of the STF last April, Minister Gilmar Mendes spoke at the Woodrow Wilson Center on October 24, 2008, about constitutional adjudication in Brazil and the challenges of reconciling the protection of fundamental rights with democracy. Mendes was joined by former Chair of the Sub-Committee on Latin America and the Caribbean of International Judicial Relations Committee of U.S. Judicial Conference, Judge Peter Messitte. Senior U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Maryland, Messitte provided a comparative perspective of diverse legal systems around the world, focusing on the United States and Brazil and differences between the common and civil law systems. "What you will see about Brazil, a civil law country," he observed, is that its legal structure "is one of the most eclectic in the world"; it draws from various sources, including Germany and the United States, to create a unique and comprehensive legal foundation. Messitte explained the distinction between abstract and diffuse systems of constitutional review.

Compared to other legal systems worldwide, Brazil is "doing pretty well," remarked Messitte. In the last few years, Brazil has enacted major constitutional reforms, including adopting the concepts of precedent (sumula vinculante) and discretionary review (repercussão geral) for the STF. It has gone beyond constitutional reform by institutionalizing judicial changes (for example, the Ministry of Justice created a department of judicial reform); expanding legal access through its justiça volante initiative, which literally "brings the court system" to distant populations in the Amazon and the interior of the country; and developing an efficient and effective small claims courts. This report, written by Minister Gilmar Mendes, is an abbreviated version of his 30-page article on the same topic of constitutional adjudication.

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Brazil Institute

The Brazil Institute—the only country-specific policy institution focused on Brazil in Washington—works to foster understanding of Brazil’s complex reality and to support more consequential relations between Brazilian and US institutions in all sectors. The Brazil Institute plays this role by producing independent research and programs that bridge the gap between scholarship and policy, and by serving as a crossroads for leading policymakers, scholars and private sector representatives who are committed to addressing Brazil’s challenges and opportunities.  Read more

Latin America Program

The Wilson Center’s prestigious Latin America Program provides non-partisan expertise to a broad community of decision makers in the United States and Latin America on critical policy issues facing the Hemisphere. The Program provides insightful and actionable research for policymakers, private sector leaders, journalists, and public intellectuals in the United States and Latin America. To bridge the gap between scholarship and policy action, it fosters new inquiry, sponsors high-level public and private meetings among multiple stakeholders, and explores policy options to improve outcomes for citizens throughout the Americas. Drawing on the Wilson Center’s strength as the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum, the Program serves as a trusted source of analysis and a vital point of contact between the worlds of scholarship and action.  Read more

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