The judiciary power breaking silences: social participation examined from judicial practice in the demand for nursery school vacancies

Abstract

The article aims to point out the democratic relevance of judicial practices that promote social participation in the political decision-making process. To this end, it is based on the practice carried out by the Court of Justice of São Paulo, in a demand that discussed the offer of nursery school vacancies by the São Paulo Executive Branch. At that circunstance, the court compelled the municipal government to open itself to dialogue with interested and vulnerable population strata, then represented by civil society entities. Methodologically, the text combines bibliographic research based on the theoretical conception of participatory democracy with exploratory work on the judicial practice of the São Paulo court. With the analysis, it was achieved to highlight that the judicialization of political issues does not necessarily weaken public debates or the attributions of state powers represented by elected by the people. On the contrary, the phenomenon can lead to democratic strengthening when magistrates, called to effect violated rights, urge the State to listen to civil society in political decision-making, especially those entities that represent the historically silenced portions of the population.