Judging Policy

Courts, like other government institutions, shape public policy. But how are courts drawn into the policy process, and how are patterns of policy debate shaped by the institutional structure of the courts? Drawing on the experience of the Brazilian federal courts since the transition to democracy,Judging Policyexamines the factors that drive policy actors to employ courts. During a period of energetic policy reform, the high salience of many policies, combined with the conducive institutional structure of the judiciary, ensured that Brazilian courts would become an important institution at the heart of the policy process. The Brazilian case thus challenges the notion that Latin America's courts have been uniformly pliant or ineffectual, with little impact on politics and policy outcomes. Judging Policyalso inserts the judiciary into the scholarly debate regarding executive-legislative and majority-minority relations in Latin America's largest and richest nation. By analyzing the full Brazilian federal court systemincluding not only the high court, but also trial and appellate courtsthe book develops a framework with cross-national implications for understanding how courts may influence policy actors' political strategies and the distribution of power within political systems.

Matthew M. Taylor is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of São Paulo. This is his first book.