The role of Brazilian Supreme Court in president Dilma Rousseff’s Impeachment

Abstract

This article intents to analyze the role played by the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court in the impeachment process of President Dilma Rousseff. First, this article presents a brief description of the context in which the impeachment process took place, in order to analyze it concurrently with the main decisions of the Federal Supreme Court in Operation Car Wash (“Operação Lava Jato”). The second part of the article presents the constitutional outlines of impeachment, its exceptionality, connected crimes and legal regulation, as parameters of constitutionality that should inform the court's performance. Finally, the third part reviews the court decisions regarding impeachment and “Operation Car Wash” which indicate a prominent role of the Federal Supreme Court in the course of these events.