Legislative versus Judiciary? The case of performance clause

Abstract

The relations between the powers tend to be conflictive. The institutional arrangements were built for the mutually control of the powers. Since 1988, the Judiciary has been interfering and making decisions in cases that impact in the electoral and party rules in Brazil, causing discomfort to the politicians. One case was a declaration of unconstitutionality of the performance clause, defined in the Article 13 of Law 9096/95. The aim of the paper is to investigate the relation between the judiciary and the legislative in Brazil after 1988, especially the processing of PL 1670/1989 which became the Law 9096/1995, and how the interference of the judiciary in that matter ocurred. We conducted a literature research on the topic and survey information on the conduct of law and judgment of Direct Unconstitutionality Actions (Ações Diretas de Inconstitucionalidade – ADIs) in the Chamber, Senate and Supreme Court websites. Our findings indicate that there is no serious conflict between the powers, only a major institutional dialogue for the consolidation of democracy.