O golpe e os marinheiros: notas sobre o uso à brasileira da jurisprudência no STF.

The Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) has consistently overruled Federal Court of Appeals (STJ) decision to extend 1979 Amnesty Law benefits to Seamen and Petty Officers who had attended the 2th anniversary of their Association, on March 25, 1964. This paper analyses the STF decisions using two methodological assumptions. First, it understands jurisprudence as a literary genre. Second, it examines the case as a network of precedents. It means that, although it doesn't have a straight binding precedent, later decisions appeal to former ones to build the case. The paper does not address the justice of the STF decision, but the mechanisms that allow the Supreme Court deciding the case using a narrow, literal, conservative meaning of Amnesty Law. Finally, the article proposes some hypotheses to be further developed on future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]