The Courts in the Face of the COVID-19 Crisis: An Analysis of the Measures Adopted by the Brazilian Judicial System

Abstract

The crisis caused by COVID-19 has triggered a series of changes at the global level, resulting in a rapid change in the way social relations are organized. The state is no exception to this complex scenario, and is responsible for making available to citizens the various administrative provisions essential to life in society, one of which is justice. In this context, the aim of the present work is to analyse the institutional response of the judiciary branch in Brazil to the pandemic period of the new coronavirus, contrasting the normative actions taken by the judiciary with the results obtained with these interventions. To that end, at first, the main regulations that have underpinned the conduct, positioning and action of the judiciary since the beginning of the crisis in Brazil, which occurred in March 2020, were collected and analysed in a total of 57 official documents issued by the Brazilian justice authorities. A posteriori, the report "Assessment of the impacts of the pandemic caused by COVID-19 on the court's work processes" was analysed, which includes analyses related to the adoption of rules relevant to issues of administrative management, procedural management and also the perceptions of impacts and difficulties due to the pandemic, as well as the other official documents published by the National Council of Justice -CNJ that provides statistics about the judicial indicators in times of pandemic. The data show a fast and comprehensive performance in the various fields in which justice operates, revealing a concern with health, social, administrative issues, among other aspects. The Judiciary has acted in an administrative unit, based on the regulations of a higher authority or of higher courts.

The European Conference on Arts & Humanities 2022: Official Conference Proceedings

“…Judicial oversight in Brazil was firstly a matter of checking whether governmental decisions were based on medical and virologist evidence in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. But furthermore, even beyond its role to operationalise justice and safeguard the rights upon which democracy is predicated, the Brazilian justice system mobilised to minimise the impact of the pandemic on both internal and external audiences (Sátiro et al, 2021).…”

“…7 Implemented on December 8, 2004, the Constitutional Amendment 45 created the CNJ as a control body of the Judiciary responsible for supervising the administrative and financial performance of the courts. Composed of representatives of the Judiciary, the public ministry, lawyers and civil society, it has the purpose of ensuring the autonomy of the Judiciary in line with the constitutional principles of public administration (Sátiro et al, 2021).…”