Since 1934, the Federal Senate of Brazil has exclusively the competence to stop the application of a law declared unconstitutional by final decision of the Federal Supreme Court. The Constitution of Brazil of 1988 provides this mechanism in a different judicial review system from that of its conception, which makes it difficult to understand some aspects of the institute. The purpose of this article is to analyze the behavior of Federal Supreme Court and the Federal Senate between October 1988 and November 2016, based on a documentary survey of all communications between these institutions. In addition, theoretical research was undertaken to clarify dogmatic questions left open by the constitutional text.