Abstract Constitutional Review of Budgetary Laws – The Announced Shift in the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court’s Case Law and the Consolidation of a New Instrument for Public Prosecution Action (Direct Action of Unconstitutionality) in the Constitutional Review of Public Budgets

Abstract

The article analyzes the announced shift in the case law of the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court regarding the admissibility of direct actions of unconstitutionality for the abstract review of budgetary laws. It begins by reconstructing the Court’s traditional understanding, according to which normative acts producing concrete effects, even when formally enacted as statutes, were generally not subject to concentrated constitutional review due to the lack of abstraction, generality, and impersonality. The author then examines the jurisprudential turning point represented by the judgment of the preliminary injunction in ADI 4.048/DF, in which the Court, by majority, accepted the possibility of submitting budgetary laws to abstract constitutional review, especially when enacted in the form of statutes or provisional measures. The study emphasizes that this change strengthens judicial scrutiny over the opening of extraordinary credits and over the allocation of public resources, particularly in situations involving misuse of purpose, arbitrariness, or violation of constitutional priorities. In conclusion, it argues that the new orientation significantly broadens the field of action of the Public Prosecution Service, enabling it to exercise a more effective review, not only formal but also substantive, over the constitutionality of public budgets, in line with the protection of fundamental rights and the promotion of social justice.