{"id":1439,"date":"2026-05-04T22:14:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T01:14:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/murillogutier.com.br\/?p=1439"},"modified":"2026-05-04T22:15:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T01:15:46","slug":"the-procrustean-bed-in-the-brazilian-supreme-federal-court-fractures-of-judicial-activism-and-fissures-in-constitutional-democracy-murillo-gutier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/murillogutier.com.br\/?p=1439","title":{"rendered":"The Procrustean Bed in the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court: Fractures of Judicial Activism and Fissures in Constitutional Democracy \u2013 Murillo Gutier"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Prof. <strong>Murillo Gutier<\/strong> | murillo@gutier.adv.br<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Abstract<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify\">This article examines <strong>judicial activism<\/strong> in the <strong>Brazilian Supreme Federal Court (STF)<\/strong> through the metaphorical image of the <strong>Procrustean bed<\/strong>. Drawing on Georges Abboud&#8217;s classification, it employs mythological figures \u2014 <strong>Echo<\/strong>, the <strong>Oracle of Delphi<\/strong>, <strong>Procrustes<\/strong>, <strong>Prometheus<\/strong>, <strong>Pygmalion<\/strong>, the <strong>Bacchants<\/strong>, the <strong>Erinyes<\/strong>, <strong>Daedalus<\/strong>, <strong>Endymion<\/strong>, and <strong>Cronos<\/strong> \u2014 to illuminate the different modalities of activism that produce <strong>fractures<\/strong> in the constitutional order and <strong>fissures<\/strong> in the democratic structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify\">The central thesis holds that judicial activism must be understood as a process of transition between <strong>fissure<\/strong> and <strong>fracture<\/strong>: the fissure emerges when the decision begins to drift from the Constitution, statutes, and due process, even under seemingly noble justifications; the fracture occurs when this practice solidifies into a <strong>decisional method<\/strong>, compromising the structure of <strong>constitutional democracy<\/strong>. Judicial <strong>self-restraint<\/strong>, therefore, is not institutional cowardice but rather the <strong>mast of Ulysses<\/strong> \u2014 the mechanism through which the Court binds itself to law so as not to succumb to seductions external to the Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify\">The article concludes that the <strong>countermajoritarian role<\/strong> of the STF, though indispensable, presupposes rigorous fidelity to the Constitution, statutes, and the procedural framework. Without these bonds, constitutional adjudication ceases to protect the Constitution and begins to replace it with <strong>judicial power<\/strong>. The Court may hear the <strong>Sirens<\/strong>; it may not follow their music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify\"><strong>Keywords:<\/strong> Judicial Activism; Procrustean Bed; Constitutional Fractures; Constitutional Democracy; Judicial Self-Restraint; Supreme Federal Court (STF); Separation of Powers; Performative Activism; Democratic Fissures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><a  data-e-Disable-Page-Transition=\"true\" class=\"download-link\" title=\"Vers\u00e3o murillo gutier\" href=\"https:\/\/murillogutier.com.br?download=1438&amp;tmstv=1777979004\" rel=\"nofollow\" id=\"download-link-1438\" data-redirect=\"false\" >\n\tThe Procrustean Bed in the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court \u2013 Murillo Gutier\t(2 downloads\t)\n<\/a>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prof. Murillo Gutier | murillo@gutier.adv.br Abstract This article examines judicial activism in the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court (STF) through the metaphorical image of the Procrustean bed. Drawing on Georges Abboud&#8217;s classification, it employs mythological figures \u2014 Echo, the Oracle of Delphi, Procrustes, Prometheus, Pygmalion, the Bacchants, the Erinyes, Daedalus, Endymion, and Cronos \u2014 to illuminate &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/murillogutier.com.br\/?p=1439\" class=\"more-link\">Continue lendo<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;The Procrustean Bed in the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court: Fractures of Judicial Activism and Fissures in Constitutional Democracy \u2013 Murillo Gutier&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1440,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"saved_in_kubio":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,4,97,84],"tags":[442,441,445,137,443,444,440,141,426],"class_list":["post-1439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-direito-constitucional","category-direito-processual-civil","category-direitos-fundamentais","category-filosofia-do-direito","tag-constitutional-democracy","tag-constitutional-fractures","tag-democratic-fissures","tag-judicial-activism","tag-judicial-self-restraint","tag-performative-activism","tag-procrustean-bed","tag-separation-of-powers","tag-supreme-federal-court-stf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/murillogutier.com.br\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/murillogutier.com.br\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/murillogutier.com.br\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murillogutier.com.br\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murillogutier.com.br\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1439"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/murillogutier.com.br\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1441,"href":"https:\/\/murillogutier.com.br\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1439\/revisions\/1441"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murillogutier.com.br\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/murillogutier.com.br\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murillogutier.com.br\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murillogutier.com.br\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}