On July 30, 2025, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, citing human rights abuses and political persecution in the case against former President Jair Bolsonaro. De Moraes, who is overseeing Bolsonaro’s trial for allegedly plotting to overturn his 2022 electoral defeat, faces asset freezes under the Global Magnitsky Act. This …
Anthony W Pereira. “Of Judges and Generals: Security Courts under Authoritarian Regimes in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile,” In Rule by Law: The Politics of Courts in Authoritarian Regimes. Edited by Tom Ginsburg and Tamir Moustafa, 23–57. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Summary: Few academic studies have taken the law and legal institutions under authoritarian regimes …
Emilio Peluso Neder Meyer, “Judges and Courts Destabilizing Constitutionalism: The Brazilian Judiciary Branch’s Political and Authoritarian Character.” German Law Journal, vol. 19, no. 4 (2018): 727–68. Summary: Contemporary democracies may confront several instances of exceptions that co-exist with constitutional institutions; they are never free from any risks. This Article relies on recent Brazilian judicial experiences …
Mark J. Osiel, “Dialogue with Dictators: Judicial Resistance in Argentina and Brazil.” Law & Social Inquiry, vol. 20, no. 2 (1995): 481-560. Summary: This article explores how judges respond to authoritarian pressure by analyzing judicial behavior under military rule in Argentina and Brazil. It investigates whether particular theories of legal interpretation—such as positivism, legal realism, or …
Tamir Moustafa. “The Politics of Domination: Law and Resistance in Authoritarian States,” Chapter. In The Struggle for Constitutional Power: Law, Politics, and Economic Development in Egypt. 19–56. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Summary: The thought of judicial institutions in authoritarian states typically conjures up the image of state security courts with no standards of due process, handpicked …
This chapter examines how cause lawyers in Argentina and Brazil have engaged with grassroots social movements amid transitions from military rule to democratic consolidation.