President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT) sanctioned a law on Tuesday establishing criteria for a relevance filter to regulate appeals admitted by the Superior Court of Justice (STJ). In practice, the new regulation limits and defines rules for the tribunal to decide whether to analyze a case.
Senate President Davi Alcolumbre (Uniao-AP), who authored the project, did not attend the sanctioning event. Speaking at the ceremony, Lula said he hopes the innovation brings more agility to proceedings and resolves disputes that cannot otherwise be settled. Chamber of Deputies President Hugo Motta (Republicanos-PB) said the measure proposes that the STJ should not act as a mere review body and expected greater speed in evaluating cases.
Criteria for appeal reviews
According to the text, an appeal will not be analyzed when two-thirds of the ministers determine that the issue lacks economic, political, social, or legal relevance extending beyond the subjective interests of the appellant. If relevance is recognized, the rapporteur may suspend all pending individual or collective cases on the topic, in whole or in part, for six months.
This suspension period may be extended by another six months, reaching up to one year. Appeals directed to the STJ focus on federal infraconstitutional law, covering federal laws and norms positioned below the Constitution.
