Minister Gilmar Mendes, of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), voted this Friday (April 10, 2026) to declare unconstitutional and other affirmative actions in public or publicly funded higher education institutions.
The Dean of the Supreme Court stated that the rule is based on a premise already rejected by the Court — that ethnic-racial policies would violate isonomy and the principle of equality — and was approved without a concrete analysis of the effectiveness of the quotas and the effects of their interruption. Here is the decision (PDF — 212 kB).
In the vote, Gilmar stated that, although written as a broad prohibition on quotas and affirmative actions, it preserves exceptions for people with disabilities, exclusively economic criteria and students from state public schools. For the minister, this indicates that the effective target of the norm is affirmative actions based on ethnic-racial criteria.
Approval in less than 2 months
The one authored by state deputy Alex Brasil (PL-SC), was approved in less than 2 months by the Legislative Assembly of Santa Catarina, without holding public hearings, listening to affected higher education institutions and without evaluating data on the public policy that was being interrupted.
For the minister, there was a failure to analyze the effects and consequences of the change. In view of this, he voted to partially judge the actions and declare the complete unconstitutionality of the Santa Catarina law.
UNDERSTAND
Santa Catarina’s law was presented with the argument that affirmative policies in higher education should be limited to criteria considered objective, such as economic vulnerability and public school origins.
In justifying the proposal, the assessment was that racial aspects could conflict with the principles of isonomy and impersonality.
In the vote presented to the STF, Gilmar stated that this was precisely the central problem of the rule. The Supreme Court has previously recognized the constitutionality of racial quotas in judgments such as the which validated the UnB system, and the which established a thesis in favor of the use of affirmative actions in public higher education.
