Justice Barroso delivered the lecture “Democracy, Populism, and Institutional Resistance: Supreme Courts in the Game of Power” to a packed Lewis Auditorium on January 28. In a master class, the acclaimed judge examined the contemporary challenges facing constitutional democracy and the critical role of judicial institutions in safeguarding democratic norms in Brazil and around the world.
First elected to the Supreme Court in 2013, Barroso also serves as President of the National Council of Justice, the self-governing body of the Brazilian judiciary. While on the bench, President Barroso remains a professor of constitutional law at the State University of Rio de Janeiro. He holds an LL.M. from Yale Law School and an S.J.D. from the State University of Rio de Janeiro. Barroso is the author of more than a dozen books and over fifty articles (in Portuguese and English). He has also written on climate change and, more recently, on the regulation of artificial intelligence and the challenges it poses.
In her introductory remarks, Kim Scheppele, the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Sociology and International Affairs and the University Center for Human Values, provided historical context on the prestigious Harlan Lecture and the importance of Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court in today’s global struggles over constitutionalism. Highlighting Brazil’s judiciary as one of the most influential in the world, Scheppele (who visited the Supreme Court in Brasília last December) emphasized how its decisions have shaped human rights, electoral integrity, and institutional resilience.
In his keynote, Justice Barroso outlined the rise of authoritarian populism around the world and analyzed its common strategies—such as direct communication through social media, attacks on institutions, and efforts to weaken judicial independence. He emphasized that democracy today is based on “votes, rights, and reason,” and that courts play an essential role in arbitrating tensions between majority rule and constitutional limits.
Drawing on cases from several countries—including Hungary, Poland, Venezuela, and Brazil—Justice Barroso described the varied outcomes of judicial resistance to populist encroachment. While some courts succumbed to political pressure, others, including Brazil’s Supreme Court, have successfully defended democratic institutions. He described the court’s role in countering electoral denialism, maintaining the integrity of Brazil’s electronic voting system, and prosecuting those responsible for the January 8, 2023, attacks on government buildings and against democracy in general.
During a lively Q&A, Justice Barroso addressed the concerns of Princeton students, discussing the regulation of social media platforms, the unintended political role of the judiciary in safeguarding democratic institutions, and the pros and cons of the popularizing of the Supreme Court through the live-streaming of its deliberations (a practice of transparency that distinguishes the Brazilian Supreme Court from many of its counterparts).
The riveting and sobering event concluded with Justice Barroso’s call for civil society to mobilize and engage those in power to make “moral resistance more powerful.” “History is not linear—it is made up of advances and setbacks. Our role as citizens, as intellectuals, and as institutions is to push history in the right direction: towards justice and inclusion for all.”
A recording of Justice Barroso’s Harlan Lecture at Princeton is available on the Brazil LAB YouTube channel.
During his visit, Justice Barroso also met with Dean Amaney Jamal (Edwards S. Sanford Professor of Politics and Professor of Politics and International Affairs) and with faculty and students from multiple units concerned with law, governance and society, and innovative legal approaches from the Global South. The Brazilian Chief Justice was accompanied by Rita Dias Nolasco (Professor of Law at the Catholic University of São Paulo and National Treasury Attorney) and Hipólito Alves Cardozo (Coordinator of the Supreme Court’s Security Office),
On January 29, Justice Barroso enjoyed viewing rare Brazilian manuscripts in the special collections of Princeton’s Firestone Library. The visit was organized by João Biehl (Susan Dod Brown Professor and Chair of Anthropology and Director of the Brazil LAB) and Miqueias Mugge (historian and Academic Research Manager at the Brazil LAB), together with librarian Fernando Acosta-Rodriguez, who assembled early colonial books on the conquest of Portuguese America and rare maps of Amazonia as well as portfolios by Brazilian artists and poets.
That same day, affiliates of the Brazil LAB had the opportunity to share a meal with Justice Barroso and to continue the lively conversation that began during the Harlan Lecture. Justice Barroso praised the unique and powerful work of the LAB. He also engaged in candid conversations about the role of science and evidence in judicial decisions, the religious and political dilemmas related to reproductive justice, and the Court’s commitment to protecting the constitutional rights of Indigenous peoples and ensuring the right to a healthy environment.
