Judicial Review in the Age of Eduardo Cunha: Between Procedural Passivism and Substantive Activism in Brazil's Federal Supreme Court/ Jurisdicao Constitucional na Era Cunha: entre o Passivismo Procedimental e o Ativismo Substancialista do STF

We argue, in this essay, that there is no intrinsic relationship between constitutional jurisdiction and democracy, and that the authority of constitutional courts can only be justified by instrumental reasons. Having said that, judicial activism seems something hard to maintain. Nonetheless, this argument only makes sense if the court adopts a non-passivist attitude when it comes to assessing the regularity of the legislative process, in order to secure the full observance of the constitutional rules that define it. Hence, the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court must overrule its decision on MS 22.503 about the proper moment for the submission of amendments to legislative propositions.