LEGAL HERMENEUTICS OF THE PER CURIAM DECISION IN THE ALLEGATION OF BREACH OF A FUNDAMENTAL PRECEPT NO. 635

INTRODUCTION: Claim of Non-Compliance with a Fundamental Precept No. 635, known as ADPF das Favelas, constitutes a significant structural proceeding within Brazilian constitutional adjudication, addressing the lethality of the public security policy of the State of Rio de Janeiro. Adjudicated by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) on 3 April 2025, the case yielded a decision on the merits issued in per curiam form, unprecedented before the Court’s Full Bench. AIMS: The research aimed, in general terms, to analyse from a hermeneutic perspective the reasoning adopted by the STF in ADPF No. 635, identifying the interpretive currents mobilised and examining the coherence between premises and conclusions within the judgment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A qualitative approach of a documentary and bibliographic nature was adopted, structured as a single case study. The primary corpus comprised the 726-page judgment and the opinion of the reporting justice, together with session minutes, subsequent single-justice rulings and documents produced by the monitoring body. The analysis relied on hermeneutic categories built from thedialogical, principle-based and critical currents, applied to the identification of textual indicators in the decisional records. RESULTS: A displacement was found between the reporting justice’s opinion and the final operative provisions, consisting of greater deference towards the State, the subsequent character of external oversight and caution regarding the alteration of precedents. The recognition of an unconstitutional state of affairs, upheld by the reporting justice, was set aside by the collegiate body. Moreover, the text retains editorial traces of the negotiation. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: It is concluded that the per curiam consensus did not operate as a composition between divergent positions, but as a reorientation of the interpretive axis of the case, shifting from a critical and principle-based reading towards a consensual reading deferential to the autonomy of the Executive. The semantic indeterminacy that made the internal agreement possible resurfaced as litigation atthe enforcement stage, evidenced by the opposing readings attributed to the same operative provision on the occasion of Operation Contenção, in October 2025.

KEYWORDS: Constitutional Hermeneutics; Brazilian Supreme Federal Court (STF); Structural Litigation; Per curiam decision; Lethal Police Violence.