de Sa e Silva, F. (2020). From Car Wash to Bolsonaro: Law and lawyers in Brazil’s illiberal turn (2014–2018). Journal of Law and Society, 47(S1), S51–S73. https://doi.org/10.1111/jols.12250
The article examines the role of law and lawyers in Brazil’s recent democratic decline. While legal professionals are often depicted as either victims of or counterforces to illiberalism, Brazil provides a critical case study. Since 2014, law and lawyers have become increasingly central in the country’s power dynamics, particularly through the anti-corruption initiative Car Wash (Lava Jato). Judges and prosecutors associated with the operation were celebrated domestically and internationally as defenders of transparency, accountability, and the rule of law.
However, the study challenges this idealization. By analyzing press interviews and statements from Car Wash legal officers, the author demonstrates that the discourse they produced—what is termed a “political grammar”—was more closely aligned with illiberal tendencies than commonly assumed. Drawing on insights from the sociology of fields, the article argues that these discursive practices have significant societal consequences that merit both scholarly and civic attention.