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We intend to advance the research agenda on the judiciary by bringing research on conflict resolution in constitutional courts closer to that on the mobilization of laws by interest groups and social movements. The Public Hearings (PAs) held by the Supreme Court are analyzed as strategic arenas for processing contentious issues in which diverse actors have opportunities to contribute to legal practices. The central objective of the article is to identify the mechanisms of connection and transmission of deliberations present in the public hearings held by the Supreme Court (STF) in the period from 2007 to 2019. The research problem was formulated with the purpose of investigating and analyzing how civil society acts within the Supreme Court. Finally, this article's main result confirms civil society organizations as the main connector of the APs held at the STF, as they represent about 40% of the organizations present, simultaneously, in more than two hearings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a critical dialogue with the literature about deliberative systems. It features an innovative proposal to investigate deliberative arenas in their connections with other parts of the political system and society. It adopts a method present in the field of Social Network Analysis (SNA) to conduct an empirical investigation of public policy councils of the city of Belo Horizonte. Our working hypothesis was that the main links among the councils would be informal mechanisms that promotes institutional interaction. The results show that government councillors are part of various councils simultaneously, so they play the role of links between the practices and institutions in which they work. It suggests the necessity to carry out future studies that would be able to show the connection of councils to the other parts of the broader deliberative system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]