Application of the rule of constitutional symmetry to the Legislative Process and reservation of Supplementary Law

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the nature, purpose, and scope of supplementary laws within the current constitutional framework. Although the text of the Federal Constitution initially appears to reserve the enactment of supplementary laws solely to the jurisdiction of the National Congress, a systematic interpretation of the constitutional text reveals that member states are also required to enact supplementary laws in certain matters. The possibility that state constitutions may establish their own list of regional interests subject to regulation by supplementary laws, regardless of any provision in the Federal Constitution, is a matter subject to fluctuating interpretations within the Supreme Federal Court. The Supreme Federal Court’s most recent rejection of this possibility points to a broader understanding of the rule of constitutional symmetry applied to the legislative process, which is inconsistent with the political autonomy guaranteed to member states by the federative system enshrined in the Federal Constitution.