Brazilian Supreme Court’s Chief Justice to answer your questions

We are excited that the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil (STF) is the latest government body to take questions on YouTube. More and more, leaders around the world are using YouTube to connect directly with citizens, but this is the first time that the highest court of law in any country in the world has used YouTube to engage in meaningful dialogue with our community about the political process and governmental issues.

Brazilians -- and anyone else in the YouTube community -- can use our Google Moderator platform to ask questions on the STF’s YouTube Channel at youtube.com/stf. Questions may be submitted in either video or text. Once questions are submitted, any YouTube user will have the opportunity to vote on whether or not they think a particular question should be posed to the Chief Justice of the STF, Gilmar Mendes. Justice Mendes will answer some of the top-voted questions in a television broadcast from “TV Justiça” on April 16, 18 hrs. (Brasilia time, 14 hrs. PT). His video response will also be available on YouTube via the STF Official YouTube Channel.



The Supreme Court of Brazil launched its channel in October 2009, and in only six months the Court has uploaded more than 1700 videos, accumulating over one million views on the site. This kind of video engagement makes politics more personal, more democratic, and has shown that it is possible to open up local (i.e. MX), regional, (i.e EU), and global (i.e. COP15) initiatives in exciting new ways.

Questions for the STF may be submitted on any of the following topics:

Form of appointment of a Minister of the STF
Role of the Supreme Court
Balance of activities of the STF and CNJ
Effectiveness of judicial decisions
Proposals of the National Council of Justice
Corruption in the Judiciary system
Democratization of access to justice
Judicial activism
Computerisation of Judiciary
Prerogative of judges
Judiciary exchange in Mercosur and other countries

All questions should relate to one of the themes above and abide by the YouTube Community Guidelines.

This is your chance to engage directly with one of the world’s most impressive legal bodies and make sure your voice is heard. Submit your question today and stay tuned to see if the STF responds.

Posted by Ivo Correa, Government Relations, Google Brasil

Brazilian Supreme Court launches YouTube channel

Yesterday, the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court launched its official channel on YouTube, making it the first supreme court in the world to take advantage of YouTube to leverage its own transparency and use online videos to provide better information to the people. The Brazilian Supreme Court has a long tradition of openness and has been live broadcasting its sessions for more then a decade now. The channel contains highlights of the Supreme Court sessions, educational content produced by their own TV channel, and records of historical passages of the Brazilian Judiciary Branch.

The National Council of Justice, the highest administrative authority of the Brazilian Judiciary Branch, took the opportunity to launch an official YouTube channel as well. The channel offers a lot of useful information to citizens, especially on their fundamental rights and how to protect them. The two channels together represent a unique source of relevant legal information translated into everyday language.

We hope that these launches will encourage other public institutions around the world to follow suit, and that in Brazil and Latin America, these channels will foster openness and transparency, improve communications with the population, and stimulate regular citizens to participate in public debates.

Posted by Ivo Correa, Google Public Policy, Brazil

Following the Sotomayor Hearings on YouTube

If you're looking to follow the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Sonia Sotomayor, look no further than the Senate Democrats' YouTube channel. They've posted continuous coverage from today's hearings -- for example, you can watch Sotomayor's opening statement here:



Today's proceedings are over, but you can still catch up on YouTube, and tune in tomorrow for more.