## Facts

- Brazilian high school students take the ENEM, an annual national exam used by most universities for admission to undergraduate courses.
- The federal Ministry of Education scheduled the ENEM to occur over the course of one day, and examinees were required to be physically present to complete the test.
- The Jewish Center for Religious Education and 23 high school students filed a petition in the Federal Court of the 3rd Region seeking an alternate ENEM date to accommodate students observing Jewish holidays.
- The Federal Court of the 3rd Region issued an order requiring the federal government to schedule an alternate ENEM date.
- The Federal Court of the 3rd Region reasoned that providing an alternate date protected the students’ fundamental right to freedom of religion under Brazilian law.
- The Union (the federal government) sought relief in the Brazil Supreme Court (STF) by requesting suspension of the lower-court order through Suspension of Provisionary Order No. 389.
- Publicly available summaries confirm the case posture and the identity of the parties, but do not provide the STF’s full reasoning or the final disposition of the suspension request.

## Issues

1. Whether the STF should suspend a Federal Court of the 3rd Region order requiring the Union to provide an alternate ENEM test date for students observing Jewish holidays.
2. In evaluating a request to suspend a provisionary order affecting a nationwide exam, what weight should be given to asserted harm to public administration and exam administration as compared with the students’ claimed right to religious freedom.

## Decision

- The Federal Court of the 3rd Region ordered the Union to schedule an alternate ENEM date as a religious accommodation.
- The Union applied to the STF for suspension of that provisionary order in Suspension of Provisionary Order No. 389.
- The accessible record for this brief does not establish whether the STF granted or denied the Union’s suspension request.

## Legal Principles

- Freedom of religion can support judicial relief when a government-administered educational requirement effectively forces students to choose between religious observance and access to a major public opportunity, such as a university entrance exam.
- In the context of nationwide standardized testing, courts may consider practical and public-interest concerns tied to administering a single exam regime, including operational burden and the integrity of the testing process.
- A suspension proceeding in the STF addresses whether a lower-court provisionary order should remain in effect while litigation continues, focusing on alleged harm to public administration rather than issuing a final merits ruling on the underlying dispute.

## Conclusion

Jewish Center for Religious Education v. The Union arose from a request by Jewish students for an alternate ENEM date due to Jewish holiday observance; the Federal Court of the 3rd Region ordered the accommodation as a safeguard for religious freedom, and the Union then sought emergency relief in the STF through Suspension of Provisionary Order No. 389 to suspend that order pending further proceedings.


Jewish Center for Religious Education v. The Union, Suspension of Provisionary Order No. 389 (2009)