This article discusses the presence of the Federal Supreme Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal, STF) on the national public scene during the process of "political opening" and the consolidation of democracy in Brazil (from 1979 to 1999). We seek an understanding the relations between the Court and the State, society and politics, through the way in which the STF was perceived by several vehicles of public opinion formation. We use two daily São Paulo newspapers, the Folha de São Paulo and O Estado de São Paulo, as our parameters. These newspapers serve as a "thermometer" for the presence and action of the Court as actor within the national political scenario. We come to the conclusion that the Court sought to change the image that public opinion held of it, moving from a situation in which it was identified as estranged from the country's needs and realities to the image of an institution of central importance for the nation's development.
Supremo Tribunal Federal; profession; politics; Folha de São Paulo; O Estado de São Paulo; public opinion
