In December 2023, students at the Human Rights Strategic Litigation Clinic at the FGV Sao Paulo Law School testified as impartial advisors in three cases before the Federal Supreme Court, with the aim of helping the justices with their decisions, offering information of relevance to these complex cases.

The students worked on institutional violence issues in cases linked to human rights, gender and environmental and social rights. Part of their work will be submitted to the Federal Supreme Court.

To support Direct Action for the Declaration of Unconstitutionality 7,429, filed by the National Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals (ANTRA), whose rapporteur is Justice Nunes Marques, student Augusto Ximenez developed arguments for transsexual and transvestite prisoners to be able to participate in the decision on where to serve their sentences. To support Direct Action for the Declaration of Unconstitutionality 5,668, filed by the Socialism and Freedom Party, whose rapporteur is Justice Edison Facchin, student Ana Catarina Rodrigues worked on points related to efforts to tackle gender discrimination and LGBTQIA+ people in schools based on the National Education Plan.

As for Direct Action for the Declaration of Unconstitutionality 7,419, which deals with an amnesty granted to political parties that did not meet minimum quotas for gender and race in elections, filed by the Sustainability Network Party, whose rapporteur is Justice Luís Roberto Barroso, student Maria Aquino wrote a paper on how this issue is permeated by a dispute between the Federal Supreme Court and Congress, demonstrating which body is responsible for resolving this conflict.

The students spent the last semester selecting cases and researching and constructing their statements, with the aim of offering good arguments to the Federal Supreme Court’s justices.

The following students contributed to the Human Rights Strategic Litigation Clinic’s work: Ana Catarina Rodrigues, Augusto Ximenez, Beatriz Cantelli, Bruna dos Santos, Luiza Parisi, Maria Diniz, Maria Cecília Moreira, Maria Aquino, Maria Fernanda Neves Liborio, Nina Piazza, Sandro da Silveira and Sophia Annicchino.

According to Professor Eloísa Machado, coordinator and head of the clinic, “Clinical teaching in law allows for the creation of an environment in which students have to make decisions and take the lead in their educational process, and doing this in high-profile cases is a way of fostering good ethical and legal teeth concerning human rights.”

• See the testimony submitted to support Direct Action for the Declaration of Unconstitutionality 7,429.
• See the testimony submitted to support Direct Action for the Declaration of Unconstitutionality 5,668.
• See the testimony submitted to support Direct Action for the Declaration of Unconstitutionality 7,419.