8/30/2022
In July 2022, Constitutional Amendment 125 was enacted, amending art. 105 of the Federal Constitution to add a new admissibility requirement for special appeals.
In summary, for special appeals to be considered by the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), the Appellant must demonstrate the “relevance of the infra-constitutional federal law issues discussed in the suit”.
This “filter” is similar to the one existing in the Supreme Court (General Repercussion, instituted by EC 45/2004).
According to the new law, the Court will examine the admission of the appeal and, if 2/3 of the members of the competent authority for the judgment consider that the aforementioned relevance does not exist, the STJ will not analyze the appeal.
In addition to analyzing the relevance in the specific case, the new amendment establishes hypotheses in which relevance is presumed: a) in criminal suits in general; b) in administrative improbity suits; c) in suits in which the value of the claim exceeds five hundred minimum wages; d) in suits that may generate ineligibility; e) in suits where the appealed decision contradicts a dominant jurisprudence of the Superior Court of Justice; and f) in other hypotheses to be created by law.
According to the president of the STJ, Justice Humberto Martins, the change corrects a distortion in the system by allowing the STJ to more effectively exercise “its constitutional role, no longer acting as a third court to review suits that do not go beyond the subjective interest of the parties”.
Without prejudice, it is noted that the new amendment has a number of gaps and issues to be regulated, which should still be subject to discussion in the legislative and judicial spheres.
