Welcome to SCOTUSblog’s recurring series in which we interview experts on different supreme courts around the world and ask about how they compare to our own. Today we focus on the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court, which has some absolutely fascinating differences with SCOTUS (in ways both very good and very bad – you can choose which is which). To help me unpack things, I spoke to Professor Diego Werneck Arguelhes.
Professor Arguelhes is Dean of the Law Faculty at the Insper Institute for Education and Research, in São Paulo, Brazil. He obtained his LL.B. and M.A. from the State University of Rio de Janeiro, and his LL.M. and J.S.D. from Yale Law School.
First of all, it seems that Brazil has numerous high courts. Can you help differentiate between these?
Brazil has several high courts: the Federal Supreme Court (STF), the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), the Superior Labor Court (TST), the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), and the Superior Military Court (STM). The Constitution grants each of them ultimate authority within their specific domains. While the latter three are more narrowly specialized, the STF and the STJ have a wider scope. The STJ settles issues of interpretation and application of federal statutes (including criminal law, which, in the Brazilian federation, is necessarily federal law). The STF wields ultimate authority on the interpretation and application of the Constitution. Article 102 of the Constitution establishes that the STF “has, essentially, responsibility for safeguarding the Constitution.”
In Brazil, like the U.S., all judges (including in the STJ and the other high courts) can decide not to apply a statute they consider to be incompatible with the Constitution. But, whenever constitutional review is involved, the final authority belongs to the STF. For example, a criminal case would thus typically end at the STJ, just as a labor law case would end at the TST – but both cases could reach the STF if the respective parties persuaded that court that there is a constitutional issue at stake. Since the STF is the ultimate arbiter of what is a constitutional issue, it has significant room to decide whether to include cases in its jurisdiction or not.
Focusing on the Federal Supreme Court then, how many judges are on this body? How are these judges selected?
According to the Constitution, the STF “is composed of eleven Justices, chosen from among citizens over thirty-five and under seventy years of age with notable legal knowledge and unblemished reputation.”The same article also establishes that the justices “shall be appointed by the president of the Republic, after their nomination has been approved by an absolute majority of the Federal Senate.”
After conducting a public hearing (called a sabatina) in which they interview the presidential nominee, the senators vote using a secret ballot. The appointment procedures have remained stable for more than a century, and the last time the Senate rejected a nominee was in the late 19th Century. However, there is evidence that the Senate’s preferences have been relevant in shaping ex ante the president’s choice, as they consider its political viability. Moreover, in recent years the senators have become more aggressive in this regard. In 2021, the Judicial Affairs Committee dragged its feet and took months to schedule a hearing after President Jair Bolsonaro submitted the nomination of his Solicitor-General André Mendonça (Mendonça was ultimately confirmed). Now, after much deliberate delay the Senate finally scheduled a hearing for the current Solicitor-General Jorge Messias, who was nominated by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in November 2025. It would not be surprising if, in the next decade, we see a presidential nominee being rejected, or at least a president withdrawing a nomination.
Do the judges serve terms – and if so, of what length?
There is no life tenure in the Brazilian judiciary. All judges, including the STF justices, serve until the mandatory retirement age of 75 (raised from the original text’s 70, by amendment, in 2015). There are no general fixed terms of office. Since 1988, some justices served for half a dozen years, while others have been on the court for decades.
Read full article: https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/04/the-brazilian-federal-supreme-court/?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_17773355
