The Senate approved today (3) a Proposal for Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) No. 10/2017, which aims to reduce the demand of the Superior Court of Justice with special resources. PEC creates a kind of admissibility filter for this type of resource. Thus, the appellant must show the relevance of the infra-constitutional federal law issues discussed in the action. Now, the text, which already originated in the Chamber, returns there for a new analysis.
The PEC, which has already been in Congress for four years, modifies a section of the Federal Constitution that deals with the competences of the STJ, so that the admission of the special appeal is subject to the demonstration of relevance of the legal issues discussed by the appellant.
This filter establishes as relevant the resources in criminal actions; in administrative misconduct actions; in actions whose value at issue exceeds 500 minimum wages; in actions that may generate ineligibility; and in the cases in which the appealed decision contravenes the prevailing jurisprudence of the Superior Court of Justice.
According to the rapporteur of the PEC in the Senate, Rogério Carvalho (PT-SE), the application of this relevant systematic will enable the STJ to “go beyond acting as a mere court of review to assume the features of a true court of precedents”. With this, the court will establish the binding precedent and the other courts will have to adapt their decisions to the understanding of the STJ.
Also according to the report, topics considered without legal, economic or social relevance will no longer be analyzed by the STJ. Such issues must be definitively resolved by the lower authorities.
