ENTRE O DEVER DA TOGA E O APOIO À FARDA: Independência judicial e imparcialidade no STF durante o regime militar

Argumentative disputes regarding the autonomy of the Judicial Power and its engagement with other political institutions mark the notion of judicial independence as a condition for judicial impartiality. It is also important to stress that a historical inquiry concerning the participation of legal experts and judges, in particular Brazilian Supreme Court magistrates, on the process of constructing their own political-institutional space, unfortunately, still occupies a mitigated importance in social scientist’s findings when dealing with the access to justice in Brazil. This paper seeks to combine the analysis of the influxes from the dictatorship period, concerning the Supreme Court’s functions under the Constitutional commands, and the magistrates' declarations about their own institutional role during the dictatorial regime. It also aims to bring some relevant historical aspects to a better understanding of the complex relationship between politics and law, in which disputes for the Supreme Court’s autonomy were drawn in the period of civil-military dictatorship in Brazil.