Political performance of the Attorney General during democratic transition in Brazil

Abstract The paper aims to examine the political performance of the Attorney General (PGR, in Portuguese) during democratic transition in Brazil (1979-1988), based on news coverage. Of particular interest is PGR’s role in judicial review, filtering demands brought to the Supreme Court (STF, in Portuguese), identifying attempts to block the judicialization of politics. Our methodology is based on content analysis of news published in Folha de S. Paulo and O Estado de S. Paulo newspapers, describing aspects of the PGR's performance that reverberated in public opinion. The main finding points to a change in the role of the PGR's over the period, becoming less centered on the criminal prosecution of the regime's opponents and more open to the judicialization of politics, with an intensification of the discourse of moralizing public administration, highlighting cases of political corruption.