Abstract

The article analyzes how the use of scientific evidence was instrumentalized by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) when judging lawsuits concerning policies to combat COVID-19. Conceptually, the article relates two fields of study: judicialization of public policies and evidence-based public policies. We began by collecting lawsuits that sought constitutional review (known as ADIs and ADPFs) involving the competing themes of Covid-19 and healthcare, reaching a universe of 46 lawsuits, of which 25 are ADIs and 21 are ADPFs. We identified that the STF justices, in an attempt to limit the initiatives carried out by the federal government, began to use scientific knowledge as an argumentative operator to legitimize their decisions and counter the president's perceived negationist stance. There is a need for more studies on how STF ministers base their decisions and use scientific knowledge from fields other than law.

evidence-based public policies; judicialization of public policies; Judiciary; Covid-19; Executive-Judiciary relations