Ruling Racial Quotas Constitutional in Brazil : The Black Movements' Resounding Affirmative Action Victories in the Supreme Court and Legislature

This book examines Brazil's supreme court ruling that racial quotas are constitutional and the Black movements that made it possible. Combining law, history, and politics, it offers students, scholars, and activists a compelling example of how new participatory mechanisms were used to advance quota-based affirmative action for race and class.

Ruling Racial Quotas Constitutional explores a 2012 decision in which the Brazilian supreme court unanimously upheld racial quotas for university admissions in a striking victory for Black social movements. Drawing on legal records, public hearings, and amicus briefs, the book reveals how Black activists shaped the court's reasoning which produced a transformative intersectional quota system for the racially and socio-economically disadvantaged. Interdisciplinary in scope, it combines history, law, discourse analysis, and politics explore the strategies of Black activists to persuade the court and open a path to constitutional and legislative innovation. Essential for scholars, students, and legal practitioners, it shows that the intersection of collective action and the law can produce substantive change even in highly unequal societies. The book also highlights the distinctive interpretations of equality, race, and social justice held by the Brazilian Supreme Court as it gained centrality in national politics in the 21st century.