{{Short description|Brazilian professor, jurist and justice (born 1958)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = His Excellency | name = Luís Roberto Barroso | honorific_suffix = | image = Luis Roberto Barroso 2014.jpg | image_size = | caption = Barroso in 2014 | office = Justice of the Supreme Federal Court | term_start = 26 June 2013 | term_end = 18 October 2025 | appointer = Dilma Rousseff | predecessor = Ayres Britto | successor = | office1 = President of the Supreme Federal Court | term_start1 = 28 September 2023 | term_end1 = 29 September 2025 | vice_president1 = Edson Fachin | predecessor1 = Rosa Weber | successor1 = Edson Fachin | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1958|3|11|df=y}} | birth_place = Vassouras, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | alma_mater = {{Plainlist| * Rio de Janeiro State University (LL.B., PhD) * Yale University (LL.M.) }} | spouse = {{Marriage|Tereza Cristina van Brussel||14 January 2023|end=died}} | children = 2 | footnotes = {{Collapsible list | titlestyle = background:#EEDD82;text-align:center; | title = Other judicial positions | bullets = on | 2022–2023: Vice President, Supreme Federal Court | 2020–2022: President, Superior Electoral Court | 2018–2020: Vice President, Superior Electoral Court | 2018–2022: Effective Justice, Superior Electoral Court | 2014–2018: Substitute Justice, Superior Electoral Court }} }} '''Luís Roberto Barroso''' ({{IPA|pt|ɫwis, ɫwiʃ ʁoˈbeɾtu baˈʁɔzu}}; born 11 March 1958) is a Brazilian law professor, jurist, and retired Justice of the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil, having been nominated to the position by President Dilma Rousseff in 2013. Between 2020 and 2022, Barroso also served as President of the Superior Electoral Court.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Teixeira |first1=Matheus |last2=Fernandes |first2=Talita |date=24 May 2020 |title=Barroso assume TSE em meio a ações que miram chapa Bolsonaro-Mourão |url=https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2020/05/barroso-assume-tse-em-meio-a-acoes-que-miram-chapa-bolsonaro-mourao.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200526012423/https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2020/05/barroso-assume-tse-em-meio-a-acoes-que-miram-chapa-bolsonaro-mourao.shtml |archive-date=26 May 2020 |accessdate=25 May 2020 |publisher=Folha de S. Paulo |language=pt}}</ref>
Barroso graduated in law from the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), holds a Master's Degree in law from Yale University, and a PhD from UERJ. He has done post-doctoral studies at Harvard Law School and he is a professor of Constitutional Law at UERJ.
He is considered a liberal and progressive Justice,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Um progressista no Supremo |url=https://valor.globo.com/eu-e/noticia/2015/07/31/um-progressista-no-supremo.ghtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230929013724/https://valor.globo.com/eu-e/noticia/2015/07/31/um-progressista-no-supremo.ghtml |archive-date=29 September 2023 |access-date=2021-08-03 |website=Valor Econômico |language=pt-br}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-09-10 |title=10 opiniões que fazem de Barroso o liberal mais poderoso do Brasil |url=https://mercadopopular.org/politica/barroso-liberal/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220123190711/https://mercadopopular.org/politica/barroso-liberal/ |archive-date=23 January 2022 |access-date=2021-08-03 |website=Instituto Mercado Popular |language=en-US}}</ref> providing landmark votes on the legalization of abortion in pregnancies originated from rape<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-11-29 |title=Turma do STF decide que aborto nos três primeiros meses de gravidez não é crime |url=https://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/geral/noticia/2016-11/turma-do-stf-decide-que-aborto-nos-tres-primeiros-meses-de-gravidez-nao-e |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221030014916/https://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/geral/noticia/2016-11/turma-do-stf-decide-que-aborto-nos-tres-primeiros-meses-de-gravidez-nao-e |archive-date=30 October 2022 |access-date=2021-08-03 |website=Agência Brasil |language=pt-br}}</ref> and the criminalization of homophobia and transphobia in Brazil.<ref>{{Cite web |date=25 February 2019 |title=Julgamento da ADO 26 e do MI 4733 – omissão legislativa em criminalizar a homofobia e a transfobia |url=https://luisrobertobarroso.com.br/2019/02/25/julgamento-da-ado-26-e-do-mi-4733-omissao-na-criminalizacao-da-homofobia-e-da-transfobia/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220204045921/https://luisrobertobarroso.com.br/2019/02/25/julgamento-da-ado-26-e-do-mi-4733-omissao-na-criminalizacao-da-homofobia-e-da-transfobia/ |archive-date=4 February 2022 |access-date=2021-08-03 |website=Luís Roberto Barroso |language=pt-BR}}</ref>
On 18 October 2025, Justice Barroso officially retired from the Supreme Court.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-10-15 |title=Aposentadoria de Barroso é publicada no Diário Oficial |url=https://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/justica/noticia/2025-10/aposentadoria-de-barroso-e-publicada-no-diario-oficial |access-date=2025-10-18 |website=Agência Brasil |language=pt-br}}</ref>
==Life and career== Born in the city of Vassouras, Barroso received a bachelor's degree in law from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) in 1980, and an LL.M. from Yale Law School in 1987. He received a doctorate in public law from UERJ in 2008 and is a tenured professor of constitutional law at the university.<ref>{{cite web |date=1 July 2013 |title=Composição Atual |url=http://www.stf.jus.br/portal/cms/verTexto.asp?servico=sobreStfComposicaoComposicaoPlenariaApresentacao&pagina=RobertoBarroso |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190130234405/http://www.stf.jus.br/portal/cms/verTexto.asp?servico=sobreStfComposicaoComposicaoPlenariaApresentacao&pagina=robertobarroso |archive-date=30 January 2019 |access-date=20 September 2015 |publisher=STF}}</ref><ref>"[http://www.stf.jus.br/arquivo/cms/sobreStfComposicaoComposicaoPlenariaApresentacao/anexo/cv_ministro_luis_roberto_barroso_mai2013.pdf Luís Roberto Barroso]", Supremo Tribunal Federal. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180826221814/http://www.stf.jus.br/arquivo/cms/sobreStfComposicaoComposicaoPlenariaApresentacao/anexo/cv_ministro_luis_roberto_barroso_mai2013.pdf |date=26 August 2018 }}.</ref> In 2011, Barroso was a visiting scholar at Harvard Law School, and while in the United States published the paper "Here, there and everywhere: human dignity in contemporary law and in the transnational discourse".<ref name="Yale">{{Cite web |date=February 14, 2011 |title=Prof. Luís Roberto Barroso '89 LLM to Discuss Brazil's Unbalanced Democracy |url=https://law.yale.edu/yls-today/news/prof-luis-roberto-barroso-89-llm-discuss-brazils-unbalanced-democracy |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923073708/https://law.yale.edu/yls-today/news/prof-luis-roberto-barroso-89-llm-discuss-brazils-unbalanced-democracy |archive-date=23 September 2020 |access-date=1 September 2018 |website=Yale Law School}}</ref>
At 2011, Barroso became nationally known for being the lawyer of the militant Cesare Battisti in Brazil. Barroso implemented a defense that argued that his client's actions were justified because the actions were part of Battisti's fight against an authoritarian Italian regime.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Haidar |first1=Rodrigo |date=10 June 2011 |title=O advogado que garantiu a liberdade de Battisti |url=https://www.conjur.com.br/2011-jun-10/barroso-advogado-garantiu-liberdade-cesare-battisti |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629214842/https://www.conjur.com.br/2011-jun-10/barroso-advogado-garantiu-liberdade-cesare-battisti |archive-date=29 June 2023 |access-date=29 November 2023 |website=Consultor Jurídico}}</ref>
Barroso owned the law firm Luís Roberto Barroso & Associados in Rio de Janeiro, which specialized in public law and Supreme Court litigation.<ref name=Yale/> Prior to being nominated to the Supreme Federal Court by Dilma Rousseff in May 2013 to replace Justice Carlos Ayres Britto, Barroso served as a state attorney in Rio de Janeiro state. He was the fourth Supreme Court nominee of Rousseff, who had previously nominated the justices Luiz Fux, Rosa Weber and Teori Zavascki.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Mendes |first1=Priscilla |last2=Oliveira |first2=Mariana |date=23 May 2013 |title=Dilma indica constitucionalista Luís Roberto Barroso para o STF |url=http://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/2013/05/dilma-indica-constitucionalista-luis-roberto-barroso-para-o-stf.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180902084216/http://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/2013/05/dilma-indica-constitucionalista-luis-roberto-barroso-para-o-stf.html |archive-date=2 September 2018 |access-date=1 September 2018 |website=G1 Política}}</ref> He was confirmed by the Federal Senate in early June, and was sworn into office on 26 June 2013.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Oliveira |first1=Mariana |last2=Passarinho |first2=Nathalia |date=26 June 2013 |title=Luís Roberto Barroso toma posse como ministro do Supremo |url=http://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/2013/06/luis-roberto-barroso-toma-posse-como-ministro-do-supremo.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180902084239/http://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/2013/06/luis-roberto-barroso-toma-posse-como-ministro-do-supremo.html |archive-date=2 September 2018 |access-date=1 September 2018 |website=G1 Política}}</ref>
Barroso has been invited to lecture in various universities around the world, including the New York University School of Law, in the United States, and London School of Economics and Oxford University, in England.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Brazil: Looking Beyond the Crisis |url=https://www.law.nyu.edu/studentorganizations/brazilian-legal-society/pastevents/2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230507015606/https://www.law.nyu.edu/studentorganizations/brazilian-legal-society/pastevents/2016 |archive-date=7 May 2023 |access-date=29 November 2023 |website=NYU School of Law}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Brazil Forum UK |url=https://www.brazilforum.org/?lang=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230507144839/https://www.brazilforum.org/?lang=en |archive-date=7 May 2023 |access-date=29 November 2023 |website=brazilforum.org}}</ref>
Barroso is an advocate for drug legalization, starting with decriminalizing the possession of marijuana for private consumption.<ref>{{cite web |date=15 November 2017 |title=Brazil must legalise drugs, existing policy destroys lives |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/nov/15/brazil-must-legalise-drugs-existing-policy-destroys-lives-luis-roberto-barroso-supreme-court-judge?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171116035158/https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/nov/15/brazil-must-legalise-drugs-existing-policy-destroys-lives-luis-roberto-barroso-supreme-court-judge?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other |archive-date=16 November 2017 |access-date=15 November 2017 |website=TheGuardian.com}}</ref> His judicial views have been described as progressive.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Um progressista no Supremo |url=https://www.valor.com.br/cultura/4156910/um-progressista-no-supremo |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180816025637/https://www.valor.com.br/cultura/4156910/um-progressista-no-supremo |archive-date=16 August 2018 |access-date=1 September 2018}}</ref>
On 9 October 2025, Barroso announced his retirement from the Supreme Federal Court, eight years before the mandatory retirement age of 75.<ref>{{Cite news |date=10 October 2025 |title=Brazilian justice announces retirement from Supreme Court, opens path for another Lula nominee |url=https://apnews.com/article/brazil-supreme-court-lula-nominee-bolsonaro-trial-coup-a92c24426bd99cf1af29a4bc74548d9e |access-date=10 October 2025 |work=AP News}}</ref>
== Controversies == On 13 November 2022, while in New York City attending a conference by Grupo LIDE near Harvard Club, Barroso was approached by Brazilian demonstrators, and in response he uttered the phrase "Perdeu mané, não amola" ({{IPA|pt-BR|peʁˈdew maˈnɛ nɐ̃w̃ aˈmɔlɐ}}), meaning: You lost, man, don't bother me.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-11-15 |title='Perdeu, mané, não amola': Barroso responde a provocação de bolsonarista em NY |url=https://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/2022/11/15/perdeu-mane-nao-amola-barroso-responde-a-provocacao-de-bolsonarista-em-ny.ghtml |access-date=2025-09-27 |website=G1 |language=pt-br}}</ref> It has become a notorious expression in Brazilian politics, having been defaced into a statue at the Praça dos Três Poderes by Débora Rodrigues, a far-right bolsonarist demonstrator during the 8 January 2023 attacks.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-03-28 |title=Quem é a mulher que escreveu "Perdeu, Mané" em estátua do STF |url=https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/politica/quem-e-debora-rodrigues-dos-santos-mulher-que-pichou-estatua-do-stf/ |access-date=2025-09-27 |website=CNN Brasil |language=pt-BR}}</ref>
On 13 July 2023, while attending an event at UNE, he uttered the phrase "Nós derrotamos o bolsonarismo", meaning: We defeated Bolsonarism.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-07-12 |title="Nós derrotamos o bolsonarismo", diz Barroso em evento da UNE |url=https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/politica/nos-derrotamos-o-bolsonarismo-diz-barroso-em-evento-da-une/ |access-date=2025-09-27 |website=CNN Brasil |language=pt-BR}}</ref> The phrase has been used by conservative Brazilians to accuse Barrroso of bias. He apologized for the phrase and later expressed regret.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-09-23 |title=Barroso lamenta frase sobre 'derrotar o bolsonarismo' ao citar 'arrependimento' à frente do STF: 'Infeliz' |url=https://oglobo.globo.com/politica/noticia/2025/09/23/barroso-lamenta-frase-sobre-derrotar-o-bolsonarismo-ao-citar-arrependimento-a-frente-do-stf-infeliz.ghtml |access-date=2025-09-27 |website=O Globo |language=pt-br}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}} {{s-start}} {{s-legal}} {{s-bef|before=Ayres Britto}} {{s-ttl|title=Justice of the Supreme Federal Court|years=2013–2025}} {{s-vac}} |- {{s-bef|before=Rosa Weber|rows=4}} {{s-ttl|title=Vice President of the Superior Electoral Court|years=2018–2020}} {{s-aft|after=Luiz Edson Fachin|rows=4}} |- {{s-ttl|title=President of the Superior Electoral Court|years=2020–2022}} |- {{s-ttl|title=Vice President of the Supreme Federal Court|years=2022–2023}} |- {{s-ttl|title=President of the Supreme Federal Court|years=2023–2025}} {{s-end}}
{{Presidents of the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barroso, Luis Roberto}} Category:1958 births Category:Living people Category:Supreme Federal Court of Brazil justices Category:Yale Law School alumni Category:People from Vassouras Category:Rio de Janeiro State University alumni Category:Brazilian Jews Category:Brazilian people of Greek-Jewish descent Category:Yale University alumni