HERMENEUTICS AND OVERINTERPRETATION: ADI 6341 AND THE QUESTION OF FEDERATIVE COMPETENCES

Abstract

This paper discusses the phenomenon of overinterpretation in the Law. Based on the theoretical and methodological assumptions of hermeneutics, the text questions the limits of the interpretation of legal norms, based on the Tanner’s Lectures by Umberto Eco, in 1990, at the University of Cambridge. Then, it proposes a case study, when analyzing ADI nº 6341, judged by the Supreme Court of Brazil, whose object involves the federal competences for the handling of the mechanisms of social isolation provided for by Law 13.979/2020 in the context of coping with COVID-19. In the end, by way of conclusion, it points that the problem with the case examined lies in the wrong application of constitutional concepts, which led to a second wave of interpretation by the addressees of the Court's decision.