This article deals with three themes. Firstly, it highlights, following Dworkin, that equality is the sovereign virtue of the political community and if the government neglects the equal concern and respect for all citizens, it also abandons its legitimacy, which leads us to the important question of how has been built up the notion of equal concern and respect in Brazil. Secondly, it highlights that recent political and social changes have led the judiciary to assume an increasingly prominent position in the construction of truth in Western democracies, reflecting on the consequences of this shift of paradigm. Finally, crossing these two points, the article reflects on the importance, potentials and limits of the role of the judiciary to define the contents of the sovereign virtue of equality in contemporary Brazil.
Equality; Judiciary; Brazil