Political Jurists and their Convictions: towards an anatomy of the juridical component in Brazil’s 2016’ Coup

Abstract

Through an inquiry on the protagonistic role played by “political jurists” in contemporary Brazil, the article provides an interpretation for the juridical component of the 2016’ Coup that founded Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment process. Anchored on methods of discourse analysis, this research takes as its main objects several public sphere interventions made by two of the most relevant characters that can be framed as “political jurists” in Brazil’s recent context: Luís Roberto Barroso, a Supreme Court judge, and Sergio Moro, a first instance judge. In spite of relevant differences on their modes of speech, public discourses show two lines of convergence that were crucial for the making of the Coup’s ideological context: a) the legitimation of a widespread judicial offensive over politics and society, broadening the scope of the “fight against corruption” through a de-legitimation of political actors and institutions; b) the idealization of an “organized civil society”, which would turn itself against the Brazilian State’s renitent vices in a movement that links the desired virtuous reform of political and social relations to an affirmation of the market’s alleged socializing powers.