Murillo Gutier | murillo@gutier.adv.br
Abstract
The article investigates the phenomenon of idyllic constitutionalism — a hermeneutic posture in which the affective bond between interpreter and Constitution dissimulately replaces obedience to the real document, thereby establishing what has come to be termed idyllic constitutionalism. Drawing together psychoanalysis, legal theory, and case law, the reflection describes how the interpreter, frustrated by imperfections in the constitutional text, resorts to a morality control disguised as systematic interpretation. From Baron de Montesquieu to Plato and Saint Augustine, and passing through the doctrine of Carlos Ayres Britto, the study examines how the case law of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) — particularly in RE 328.232/AM and ADPF 132/RJ — has incorporated elements of this romanticized reading. The central thesis holds that accepting the Constitution as it is, with its flaws and contradictions, constitutes an unavoidable requirement for anyone who takes the Democratic Rule of Law seriously.
Keywords: idyllic constitutionalism; constitutional interpretation; morality control; Democratic Rule of Law; hermeneutics; psychoanalysis of law; frustration tolerance.
Idyllic Constitutionalism - The Constitution Between Normative Reality and Interpretive Reverie - Murillo Gutier (1 download )