Blackening the Supreme Federal Court: Pedro Lessa's Contributions to the Socio-Legal Formation of Brazil

Abstract

This article analyzes the trajectory and legacy of Pedro Lessa (1859-1921), the first Black mixed-race Justice of the Supreme Federal Court, who served on the Court in the early 20th century. The study is part of an effort to "blacken" the historiography of Law and combat the myth of racial democracy, rescuing Lessa's contribution to the formation of national identity and Brazilian socio-legal thought, in a post-abolition context and the ambiguity of the First Republic. The analysis of Lessa's thought and presence in the STF is structured around thematic excerpts that demonstrate his combative and innovative profile, namely: the critical handling of Comparative Law (USA and Argentina); the delineation of constitutional institutions, with emphasis on the broadening of the scope of habeas corpus in the "Brazilian theory" of the writ; the defense of an imposing, protagonistic, and political role for the Judiciary; and the relevance of his condition as a Black mixed-race man in disrupting a hegemonicly whitened environment. It is concluded that rescuing the memory of Pedro Lessa, from a racialized perspective, is crucial for understanding the contradictions and complex national identity of Brazil.