ASSUMPTIONS FOR A NORMATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL STARE DECISIS AND WRITING DECISIO-NMAKING MODEL AT BRAZILIAN SUPREME COURT: A NORMATIVE-INSTITUTIONAL APPROACH
Stare decisis. Writing Decision-making Model. Brazilian Supreme Court. Institutional Design.
Framed on a normative background, this thesis aims to define theoretical assumptions for dealing with stare decisis at constitutional environment and, based on these collected assumptions, draft an ideal writing decision model for the Brazilian Supreme Court’s decisions. The need of Redesigning stare decisis doctrine at constitutional domains emerges as a demand of a normative-institutional outlook. Such an outlook try to develop normative categories for dealing with judicial decision constraint without forgetting operative and empirical aspects of the phenomenon. The application of this specific methodological perspective allows the observation of two distinctive features of stare decisis on Supreme Courts. At first, the differentiation between the horizontal and vertical dimensions demonstrates that individual foundations for binding decisions on each dimension are necessary. Secondly, the outlook shows that contestations forged by political constitutionalism against judicial review of legislation could also be used for criticizing Supreme Court’s stare decisis. Assuming these features will necessarily demand a redefinition of stare decisis at constitutional context and, by consequence, a redraw on writing constitutional decisions. If these changes are not taken, the stare decisis will be adopting an institutional design that does not achieve its goals on operating at Supreme Courts domains.