Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Reforma política e crise de representatividade

2009; UNIVERSIDADE DE SÃO PAULO; Volume: 23; Issue: 67 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1590/s0103-40142009000300006

1806-9592

Gilmar Ferreira Mendes,

Social and Political Issues

THE CONGRESS CRISIS was the theme of an exclusive interview granted to ESTUDOS AVANCADOS by the Chief Justice of the Federal Supreme Court (FSC), Gilmar Mendes. The Chief Justice attributed the Congressional crisis to the prevailing institutional model, denied that what we were seeing was a “judicialization of politics” and defended the FSC “in its role as guardian of the Constitution”. In January 2000, Gilmar Mendes was appointed Attorney-General for the Union. Two years later he was nominated to the Federal Supreme Court. During his tenure as an Associate Justice he also assumed the post of vice-president of the FSC under Chief Justice Ellen Gracie. On April 23 2008 he was sworn into offi ce as Chief Justice of the FSC for the biennial 2008-2010. A legal scholar – holder of a degree, two master’s degrees and a doctorate, earned during the period 1973 and 1990 in Brazil and Germany – he is a professor of law at the University of Brasilia (UnB), where he lectures on Constitutional Law at graduate and post-graduate level. He is the author of books and articles published in academic journals.