“Cortar o mal pela raiz?” : a limitação das decisões monocráticas no âmbito do Supremo Tribunal Federal

Abstract

One of the most controversial contemporary issues is the significant number of monocratic decisions handed down by the Supreme Court, under the justification of enforcing constitutional rights. This gains a greater connotation in the context of precautionary decisions in concentrated control of constitutionality, as it allows a single judge to suspend an act constituted by a manifestation of another Power. This mismatch accentuated the debates regarding the power of the rapporteur over the process, leading to the origin of the doctrinal current of monocratism. In addition, in view of the dissatisfaction of the Legislative Branch, Senator Oriovisto Guimarães submitted to the Plenary of the Chamber the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution No. 08/2021, which seeks to limit precautionary decisions and return to collegiality. Thus, the objective of this study concerns the qualified analysis of PEC No. 08/21, taking into account the history of evolution of monocratic decisions, their existing problems and the main points that converge and disfavor the approval of the amendment. In order to achieve this intention, the deductive method was applied under the exploratory bias, with a descriptive character and a general historical approach to the institute of monocratic decisions, in order to demonstrate its temporais evolution and lead to the current specific panorama of PEC No. 08/2021. In this way, the study originated with the chronological research of the Internal Regulations of the Supreme Court, starting in the RISTF from 1940 to the current regulation in force, specifically directed to the regulation of monocratic decisions and their modifications. Also, an exposition of the procedure of actions of concentrated control of constitutionality and the institute of monocratic precautionary decisions, evidencing the elements that caused the emergence of monocratism. Next, an exploratory research was carried out on the text presented by PEC No. 08/2021, its processing in the Senate and the debates promoted during the presentation of the text in the CCJ and in the Plenary. In addition, a descriptive analysis of the consequences of the final text approved by the plenary of the Upper House. Finally, there was a qualitative analysis of the main arguments presented by the reforming constituent, convergent and divergent to the approval of the proposed amendment, valued with the aspects related to defensive democracy and excessive monocratism. The central point concerns: whether modifications intended by PEC No. 08/2021 are necessary for the current situation of monocratic precautionary decisions. At the end, a conclusion is presented demonstrating the need for a regulation of the institute of monocratic decisions, in view of the exorbitant number of individual manifestations and the high degree of discretion of the power of the reporting minister. It is evident that PEC No. 08/2021 complies, in part, with the solution of monocratism, due to the legal imprecision that may generate supervening obstacles.