Power, Composition, and Decision Making: The Behavioral Consequences of Institutional Reform on Brazil�s Supremo Tribunal Federal

desposato, scott w. ; ingram, matthew c ; lannes, jr., osmar p.;

How does a court�s policy-making authority shape the nature of judicial behavior?
We argue that judicial systems that limit policy-making authority also discourage
the politicization of courts, encouraging judges to think narrowly about
the interests of litigating parties. In contrast, granting a court high policy-making
authority�affecting potentially thousands of cases and other branches of government� naturally encourages judges to consider broader ideological principles.
Typically, unraveling cause and effect would be difficult, as judicial
behavior and institutions are usually stable and endogenous. But an especially
stark sequence of political and institutional changes in Brazil affords analytic
leverage to explore these questions. A series of judicial reforms greatly expanded
the Brazilian Supreme Court�s authority, and our analysis of judicial
decisions shows the emergence of a political cleavage on the court after
these reforms