Brazil Supreme Court Issued 61,008 Decisions in First Half of 2026

Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF), the country's highest constitutional court, issued 61,008 decisions in cases before it during the first six months of 2026, according to single-source reporting from O Globo.

The figures, published by columnist Ancelmo Gois, point to the heavy procedural load carried by the court and to the central role of individual justices in handling that volume. Of the total decisions from January through June, 49,159 were monocratic decisions, meaning rulings issued by a single justice rather than by a panel or the full court.

Individual Decisions

Monocratic decisions accounted for 80.6% of the STF's output in the period covered by O Globo. The report also said 24,244 decisions denied the continuation of cases, many of them involving actions that lacked a legal basis to proceed before the Supreme Court.

For international readers, the STF is not only Brazil's final court of appeal on constitutional matters. It also has a broad public role in disputes involving federal authorities, major criminal inquiries, electoral matters and institutional conflicts. That makes its caseload politically visible even when many individual decisions are procedural.

Moraes Leads the Ranking

Justice Alexandre de Moraes remained the STF member with the highest number of decisions in the first half of the year, with 5,789 rulings, according to O Globo. He was followed by Flávio Dino, with 4,358, and Kassio Nunes Marques, with 4,304.

The article described Moraes's lead as part of a trend seen in recent years, especially after the January 8, 2023 attacks in Brasília, when supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed Brazil's Congress, Supreme Court and presidential palace. O Globo did not provide a full historical series in the article, so the comparison is limited to the paper's characterization of the trend.

Moraes has been one of the STF's most visible justices in politically sensitive cases. The source article also noted that he has faced additional pressure this year linked to the so-called Master case, but it did not provide details in the excerpted report.

What the Numbers Show

The figures underline how much of Brazil's Supreme Court work happens outside full plenary judgments. In practical terms, a large share of the court's day-to-day output comes through individual orders that accept, reject or move cases through the system.

The report does not assess whether the volume of monocratic decisions is appropriate, nor does it compare the STF's 2026 numbers with previous six-month periods. It does, however, show that the court's workload remains large and that procedural decisions, including refusals to let cases proceed, form a major part of its activity.