STF, legitimidade e corte constitucional

Abstract

The Federal Supreme Court of Brazil (STF), being the highest court in the structure of the Judiciary, has jurisdiction over matters involving the Constitution, thus acquiring a certain primacy as regards Executive and Legislative branches. Constitutional courts are considered essential to democratic constitutionalism, as their role is to care about the rules and limits established by the Constitution in democratic regimes. Taking this into account, this paper intends to verify whether the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil is to be deemed as a Constitutional Court and assess the political and institutional role of the Federal Supreme Court and to clearly check the relevance of their powers and the consequences of their decisions to a democratic state living under the rule of Law.