Three sociological aspects of a political court

There is a significant growth in the political activity of the Brazilian tribunals. In this frame, it is possible to points out a particular actuation of the Federal Supreme Court (STF). At the last decade, the larger parcel of the social demands attempt on basic rights can be attributed to this institution. The lack of others branches is bringing this new panorama of activism of this Court and, at the same time, it is necessary to verify how often this activity can respond to individuals and social groups’ expectation. The STF had well defined institutional functions. Recently, it is incurring in democratic responsibilities attributed to others department. This fact remakes a democratic difficulty, especially, in representative grounds. It seems like the legal sphere was placed in the background. However, it is necessary to observe – even with the eloquent silence of others branches – the possibility of an illegitimate political activity of Court. In this sense, the problem of legitimacy in the political activity of STF would be analyzed under three sociological aspects. First, the growth of this political activity of STF can be attributed to the absence of basic rights and the previous unsatisfactory concretization of constitutional norms. Second, when the Court is dodging from the legal sphere, the social facts involved in the matter must being taken as parameter of decision-making. Third, this political activity of STF must produce relevant effects in reality. This third sociological aspect, at turn, can be interpreted by two perspectives. Firstly, it must be faced as the principal objective with the assumption of political responsibilities. Secondly, the impacts of decision as benefit of facticity echoes positively throughout the political activity of Court, helping an approach to legitimacy sphere.