O “oráculo da Constituição”: o conceito de quarto poder e os liberais judiciaristas (1860-1968).

Abstract

The thesis investigates the mobilization of the concept of fourth power in Brazilian liberal political-constitutional thought, more specifically in the judiciary discourse, in the longlasting temporal arc extends from 1860 to 1968. The central objective of the research is to understand the use of the concept, often referred to as guardian of the Constitution or moderating power, in the thinking of some authors and actors representing liberal thought, namely: Zacarias de Góis e Vasconcelos (1860-1889); Rui Barbosa and Pedro Lessa (1889- 1930); Levi Carneiro and João Mangabeira (1930-1945); Aliomar Baleeiro and Victor Nunes Leal (1945-1968). The central theoretical references are essays and research on Brazilian political thought, such as those by Oliveira Viana (1922, 1999 [1949]); Alberto Guerreiro Ramos (1957, 1983); Bolivar Lamounier (1977, 1999); Wanderley Guilherme dos Santos (1970, 1978); Gildo Marçal Brandão (2005) and Christian Edward Cyril Lynch (2011b, 2013, 2016, 2021c). Based on the methodological references of the conceptual or philosophical history of politics by Pierre Rosanvallon (1986, 2010) and the history of concepts by Reinhart Koselleck (1992, 2006, 2020), the research conclusions point out that, after a significant change in interpretation in the passage from the Empire to the Republic, the concept of the fourth power employed by the judicial liberals showed strong stability in the choice of its representative, the Federal Supreme Court, and relevant changes in its meaning.