Judicial Decisions as Catalysts for Public Policy: Institutional Pathways to Social Rights Enforcement

This article aims to analyze the role of judicial decisions in the enforcement of social rights, investigating to what extent the pronouncements of the judicial branch can function as triggers, which are known in public policy theory as inputs, relevant to the formulation and implementation of public policies. Based on a legal-political approach, the study starts from the recognition of social rights as constitutional norms of full effectiveness, in a context in which, although the discussion about enforceability has been overcome, numerous challenges arise in the field of enforcement, as the lasting and collective realization of these rights depends on the implementation of public policies. In this current context, based on paradigmatic cases from Brazilian and international courts, we examine how the judicial branch, when determining the realization of positive benefits by the State, directly influences the institutional and budgetary dynamics of the Public Administration in what is called the cycle of formulation of public policies. The aim is to demonstrate that such decisions can represent a democratic mechanism for correcting state omissions and achieving the fundamental objectives of the Republic, and, finally, a critical reflection is proposed on the limits and possibilities of this judicial engagement, above all, the challenges in inter-institutional coordination.