Coordinates: 15°48′08″S 47°51′43″W

Supreme Federal Court

The Supreme Federal Court (Portuguese: Supremo Tribunal Federal, [suˈpɾẽmu tɾibuˈnaw fede
Supreme Federal Court
ˈɾaw], abbreviated STF) is the supreme court (court of last resort) of Brazil, serving primarily as the
Constitutional Court of the country. It is the highest court of law in Brazil for constitutional issues and Supremo Tribunal Federal
its rulings cannot be appealed. On cases involving exclusively non-constitutional issues, regarding
federal laws, the highest court is, by rule, the Superior Court of Justice.

Contents
History
Functions
Case law The Supreme Federal Court
building at the Praça dos Três
President and Vice-President of the Court
Poderes (Three Powers Plaza)
Current members
Gallery
See also
Notes
References Established 10 May 1808
External links Location Brasília, Brazil
Coordinates 15°48′08″S
47°51′43″W
History
Composition Presidential
The court was inaugurated during the colonial era in 1808, the year that the royal family of Portugal method nomination with
(the House of Braganza) arrived in Rio de Janeiro. It was originally called the House of Appeals of Senate
Brazil (Casa de Suplicação do Brasil). confirmation
Authorized by Constitution of
The proclamation of the Brazilian Declaration of Independence and the adoption of the Imperial
Brazil
Constitution in 1824 preceded the establishment of the Supreme Court of Justice (Supremo
Tribunal de Justiça) in 1829. With the first Constitution of the Republic, the current Court was Appeals from States Courts of
established. Justice
Judge term Until aged 75
Although the constitutional norms that regulated the creation of the Court allowed Deodoro da
Fonseca, Brazil's first president, to nominate an entirely new Court, the president chose to nominate length
as the first members of the Supreme Federal Court the ministers who were then serving as members Number of 11
of the predecessor imperial Court. positions
Website www.stf.jus.br (htt
Two hundred members have served on the Court. The Constitution of 1891 decided that the Court
would have 15 members. When Getúlio Vargas came into power, the number of members was p://www.stf.jus.br/)
reduced to 11. The number was changed to 16 in 1965, but returned to 11 in 1969 and has not President
changed since. Of all Presidents of Brazil, only one (Café Filho) never nominated a minister. Currently Rosa Weber
All judicial and administrative meetings of the Supreme Court have been broadcast live on television Since 12 September
since 2002. The Court is open for the public to watch the meetings. 2022
Vice President
On January 8, 2023, the building was attacked by supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro.
Currently Luís Roberto
Barroso
Functions
Since 12 September
Alongside its appeal competence, mostly by the Extraordinary Appeal (Recurso Extraordinário), the 2022
Court has a small range of cases of original jurisdiction, including the power of judicial review,
judging the constitutionality of laws passed by the National Congress, through a Direct Action of Unconstitutionality (Ação Direta de
Inconstitucionalidade, or ADI). There are also other mechanisms for reaching the Court directly, such as the Declaratory Action of
Constitutionality (Ação Declaratória de Constitucionalidade, or ADC) and the Direct Action of Unconstitutionality by Omission (Ação Direta
de Inconstitucionalidade por Omissão or ADO).

Case law
In May 2009 The Economist called the Supreme Federal Court "the most overburdened court in the
world, thanks to a plethora of rights and privileges entrenched in the country's 1988 constitution (...)
till recently the tribunal's decisions did not bind lower courts. The result was a court that is
overstretched to the point of mutiny. The Supreme Court received 100,781 cases last year."[1]

Overruling seems to be frequent in SFC jurisprudence: "three years ago when the STF adopted the
understanding that defendants who have a conviction upheld by a single appellate court may be sent to
jail to begin serving their sentences. (...) The 2016 decision happened largely due to a change in
opinion from Justice Gilmar Mendes (...). He had voted against sending defendants to jail after a single
failed appeal in 2009, but changed his mind in 2016. Jump to 2019, and the circumstances – both
political and judicial – have changed".[2]

President and Vice-President of the Court

The President and Vice-president of the Court are elected by their peers for a term of two years by The Justice, by Alfredo Ceschiatti in
secret ballot. The currently serving President is Luiz Fux. front of the Supreme Federal Court

Re-election for a consecutive term is not allowed. By tradition, the members of the Court always elect
as president the most senior minister of the Court that has not yet served as President, to avoid politicization of the Court.

If all members currently sitting on the Court have already served as president, the rotation starts all over again; however, due to the existence
of a compulsory retirement age, and the consequent appointment of new ministers to fill those vacancies, it is very rare for the cycle to be
completed and restarted, and some ministers are forced to retire before their turn in the presidency arrives, as was expected to happen with
Teori Zavascki.

According to the same convention, the Court selects as vice-president for a certain term the minister who, according to that tradition, will be
selected president in the succeeding term. Also by tradition, the elections of the president and vice-president are never unanimous, there being
always one isolated minority vote in each election, as the ministers who are to be elected never cast their votes for themselves; such votes are
cast either for the Dean of the Court – its most senior member – or for some other elder minister that the one to be elected admires and wants
to pay homage to.

The Chief Justice is also the 4th in the Presidential Succession Line, when the President of Brazil becomes prevented to be in charge, being
preceded by the Vice-President, the President of the Chamber of Deputies, and the President of the Federal Senate, as provided in Article 80
of the Brazilian Constitution.[3] On June 25th 2020, Luiz Fux was elected as the next chief justice, to serve a two-year term that began on
September 10.[4]

Current members
The eleven judges of the court are called Ministers (Ministro), although having no similarity with the government body of ministers. They are
appointed by the President and approved by the Senate. There is no term length but a mandatory retirement age of 75.[5]
   Former president of the Court.     President of the Court.     Vice President of the Court.

Order of Appointed Age at Initial date Limit date Main previous

antiquity Minister[M] Born (date and state)
by inauguration (inauguration) (retirement) functions

Prosecutor of
the Republic
(1985–1988),
30 December 1955 in deputy chief for
30 Legal Issues of
1 Cardoso 46 20 June 2002 December the Chief of
Mato Grosso 2030 Staff (1996–
2000), Attorney
General of the
Gilmar Ferreira Union (2000–
Mendes 2002)

Lawyer (1974–
1990), judge
from Criminal
Arres Court of
São Paulo
(1990–1997),
desembargador
11 May 1948 in of Justice
Court of the
11 May
2 Lula 57 16 May 2006 State of São
Rio de Janeiro 2023
Paulo (1997–
2006),
professor of
Enrique Ricardo State law in
Lewandowski Law School,
University of
São Paulo
(USP) (2003–
2006)

19 April 1954 in Attorney of the

19 April State of Minas
3 Lula 52 21 June 2006
Minas Gerais 2029 Gerais (1983–
2006)

Cármen Lúcia
Antunes Rocha

Lawyer (1991–
2009), deputy
chief for Legal
15 November 1967 in Issues of the
15
23 October Chief of Staff
4 Lula 41 November
São Paulo 2009
2042
(2003–2005),
Attorney
General of the
Union (2007–
José Antonio Dias 2009)
Toffoli

Prosecutor of
Public
Prosecutor's
Office of Rio de
Janeiro (1979–
1982), judge of
26 April 1953 in the state of Rio
de Janeiro
26 April
5 Rousseff 57 3 March 2011 (1983–1997),
Rio de Janeiro 2028
desembargador
of the Justice
Court of the
state of Rio de
Luiz Fux Janeiro (1997–
2001), minister
of STJ (2001–
2011)
 Labor judge
(1976–1991),
2 October 1948 in judge of
Regional Labor
19 December 2 October
6 Rousseff 63 Court (TRT) -
Rio Grande do Sul 2011 2023
4th Region
(1991–2006),
minister of TST
Rosa Maria Weber (2006–2011)
Candiota da Rosa

11 March 1958 in Lawyer (1981–

2013), Attorney
11 March
7 Rousseff 55 26 June 2013 of the State of
Rio de Janeiro 2033
Rio de Janeiro
(1985–2013)

Luís Roberto
Barroso

8 February 1958 in Lawyer (1980–

2015), Attorney
8 February
8 Rousseff 57 16 June 2015 of the State of
Rio Grande do Sul 2033
Paraná (1990–
2006)

Luiz Edson Fachin

Prosecutor of
the Public
Prosecutor's
Office of the
13 December 1968 in state of São
13 Paulo (1991–
9 Temer 48 22 March 2017 December 2002), lawyer
São Paulo 2043 of public law
(2010–2014),
minister of
Alexandre de Justice and
Moraes Public Security
(2016–2017)

Desembargador
16 May 1972 in of the Regional
5 November 16 May Federal Court
10 Bolsonaro 48
Piauí 2020 2047 of the 1st
Region (2011–
2020)
Kássio Nunes
Marques

Attorney
27 December 1972 in General of the
27 Union (2019–
16 December
11 Bolsonaro 48 December 2021), Minister
São Paulo 2021
2047 of Justice and
Public Security
(2020)
André Luiz de
Almeida Mendonça
Notes

M. ^
Names in bold are the names used in social denomination.[6]

Gallery

Justices of the The Supreme Court The courtroom of the Supreme Federal The Supreme Court
Supreme Court in in session. Supreme Federal Court at night lit up in pink for
2006. Court Breast Cancer
Awareness Month
on October 29, 2020

See also
Brazil federal courts
List of Ministers of the Supreme Federal Court (Brazil)
Tribunal de Justiça

Notes

References
1. "Brazil's supreme court: When less is more" (http://www.economist.com/world/americas/displaystory.cfm?story_id=1370766
3). The Economist. May 21, 2009.
2. FELIPE RECONDO AND FELIPE SELIGMAN, Brazil’s Supreme Court Used to Terrify Politicians. Not Anymore. Americas
Quarterly, NOVEMBER 5, 2019 (https://www.americasquarterly.org/content/brazils-supreme-court-used-terrify-politicians-no
t-anymore) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20191110211835/https://www.americasquarterly.org/content/brazils-supre
me-court-used-terrify-politicians-not-anymore) November 10, 2019, at the Wayback Machine.
3. Brazilian Constitution (http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/constituicao/constituicao.htm) Archived (https://web.archive.org/
web/20120121091321/http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/Constituicao/Constituicao.htm) 2012-01-21 at the Wayback
Machine (in Portuguese)
4. "Brazil Supreme Court selects Luiz Fux as next chief justice" (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-supreme-court-idUS
KBN23W32R). Reuters. June 25, 2020.
5. "Composição Atual" (http://www.stf.jus.br/portal/cms/verTexto.asp?servico=sobreStfComposicaoComposicaoPlenariaApres
entacao) (in Brazilian Portuguese). Supremo Tribunal Federal. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
6. "Pastas dos ministros" (http://www.stf.jus.br/portal/cms/verTexto.asp?servico=bibliotecaConsultaProdutoBibliotecaPastaMi
nistro&pagina=OrdemAntiguidade) (in Brazilian Portuguese). Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF). Retrieved 21 March 2017.

External links
Official website (http://www.stf.gov.br/) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20050730080830/http://www.stf.gov.br/) 2005-
07-30 at the Wayback Machine
(In Portuguese) Photo 360° of Supreme Federal Court - GUIABSB (https://web.archive.org/web/20090306230409/http://ww
w.guiabsb.com.br/brasilia/panoramica.asp?url=stf-supremo-tribunal-federal-brasilia&idCategoriaServico=29&idServico=20
613&descricao=STF+-+Supremo+Tribunal+Federal)

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This page was last edited on 9 January 2023, at 23:09 (UTC).

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