What’s New in Public Law

–Erick Guapizaca Jiménez, SJD Candidate, University of Michigan Law School

–Rajesh Ranjan, Lawyer, Researcher & former Samta (Equity) Fellow based in India

In this weekly feature, I-CONnect publishes a curated reading list of developments in public law. “Developments” may include a selection of links to news, high court decisions, new or recent scholarly books and articles, and blog posts from around the public law blogosphere. 

To submit relevant developments for our weekly feature on “What’s New in Public Law,” please email iconnecteditors@gmail.com.

Developments in Constitutional Courts 

1. The International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion on the Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change found that states are legally required under climate treaties, customary international law, and other applicable international law to plan and implement climate adaptation measures in line with the best available science.
2. In Hopcraft and another v. Close Brothers Limited (UKSC/2024/0157), the UK Supreme Court overturned the Court of Appeal’s finding that car dealers who receive undisclosed commissions from lenders in vehicle finance transactions owe fiduciary duties to buyers, rejecting claims of bribery and dishonest assistance. 
3. In the landmark case T-106/25, the Constitutional Court of Colombia ruled in favor of 30 Indigenous communities, finding that mercury contamination from gold mining in the Caquetá and Apaporis rivers posed a severe risk to their health, food security, cultural identity, and survival as peoples. 
4. In Duterte v. House of Representatives, the Philippine Supreme Court halted impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Z. Duterte, holding that the February 2025 vote violated the constitutional prohibition on initiating more than one impeachment process against the same official within a one-year period, thereby deferring any potential trial until at least February 2026.
5. In Umri Pooph Pratappur Tollways Pvt. Ltd. v. Madhya Pradesh Road Development Corp. Ltd., the Supreme Court of India recognized safe and well-maintained roads as part of the right to life. The Court held the State responsible for ensuring road development and maintenance to protect citizens’ right to travel.

In the News

1. El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly, dominated by President Nayib Bukele’s party, approved constitutional reforms allowing indefinite presidential re-election, extending presidential terms to six years, and eliminating runoff elections. Critics, including opposition lawmakers, warned that the changes consolidate power, weaken democratic safeguards, and risk fostering corruption and authoritarianism.
2. The United States has sanctioned Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes under the Global Magnitsky Act, citing human rights abuses, arbitrary detentions, and censorship linked to his handling of politically sensitive cases, including against former President Jair Bolsonaro. 
3. Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing new “reciprocal” tariffs ranging from 10% to 41% on imports from 69 countries, with measures taking effect on 7 August. The order also raised tariffs on Canadian goods from 25% to 35% and included additional levies on Brazil linked to political developments there.
4. A Bogotá court sentenced former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe to 12 years of house arrest after finding him guilty of witness tampering and procedural fraud. The ruling followed a 13-year judicial battle tied to allegations of Uribe’s links to paramilitary groups, sparking political polarization and an immediate appeal from his defense.
5. Ecuador’s Constitutional Court is set to review President Daniel Noboa’s proposed reform introducing chemical castration as a penalty for convicted rapists.

New Scholarship 

1. Silvana Tapia Tapia, Human Rights Penality and Violence Against Women: The Coloniality of Disembodied Justice, 36 Law Critique 41 (2025) (claiming that international human rights discourse frames violence against women mainly as a penal and procedural issue, legitimizing the expansion of the penal system while disregarding structural subordination and embodied experience, and proposes penal abolition as an anticolonial feminist alternative).
2. Cody Corliss, An International Prosecutor as U.S. Special Counsel, 2025 Utah L. Rev. 675 (2025) (arguing that prosecutors with international criminal justice expertise are best suited to serve as U.S. special counsels when the rule of law is under threat, as they have experience investigating high-level officials and navigating challenges to prosecutorial legitimacy).
3. Alvin Padilla-Babilonia, The Imposition of Constitutional Rights, 123 Mich. L. Rev. 1289 (2025) (claiming that the Supreme Court’s selective and territorial incorporation doctrines extended only “fundamental” rights to territories, leaving unresolved which rights should apply and why territorial citizens may have different constitutional protections)
4. Gregor Noll, Killing Hitler Word by Word: The Oath as Apocalyptic Lawmaking, 7 Jus Cogens 123 (2025) (arguing that political oaths function as a form of apocalyptic lawmaking, enabling actors to move from violent rupture to constituting new legal orders).
5. Michael L. Smith, History as Precedent: Common Law Reasoning in Historical Investigation, 27 U. Pa. J. Const. L. 587 (2025) (claiming that the U.S. Supreme Court treats history like precedent, manipulating historical evidence much as it does case law but without the accompanying rules and safeguards, and proposes that courts either establish procedural rules for using history or engage in more rigorous historical analysis).

Calls for Papers and Announcements 

1. The Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law is inviting submissions for a Special Issue on Regional Energy Interconnectivity and Sustainable Development: Role for International Law. Authors may submit papers on any topic related to international energy law and sustainability. Full papers are due by July 15, 2025 (details here).
2. The Journal of Environmental Law is inviting proposals for its 2026 Workshop on the theme “New Challenges in Environmental Law: from Removals to AI.” Authors are encouraged to submit proposals that critically and creatively address emerging issues in environmental law. Proposals are due by September 8, 2025 (details here).
3. The Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University is pleased to invite applications for a lateral tenured faculty member, to begin in Fall 2026 (details here). 
4. The Juris Gentium Law Review, Southeast Asia’s pioneering student-run law review, is now accepting submissions from law students of all levels for Volume 11, Issue 1 (September 2025). Submissions may include research articles, book reviews, case commentaries, or article reviews on topics related to Public International Law, Private International Law, or Comparative Law. The deadline for submission is August 31, 2025 (details here).
5. The German Yearbook of International Law is accepting submissions for the “General Articles” section of Volume 68 (2025). The deadline for submissions is September 30, 2025 (details here).

Elsewhere Online 

1. Julian Arato & Justina Uriburu (July 24, 2025) Treaty and Custom in the ICJ’s Climate Change Opinion, EJIL: TALK!
2. EJIL: The Podcast!, Episode 37: The ICJ’s Advisory Opinion on Climate Obligations: Remarkable, Radical and Robust (July 24, 2025).
3. Meena Sadr, International Law and Feasibility of Recognizing Gender Apartheid (Aug. 1, 2025), OPINIO JURIS.
4. Felipe Luciano Pires, The Legal Profession in the Executive Branch: Lessons from Brazil (Jul. 30, 2025), Verfassungsblog.
5. Julian Schramm, A State Without Statehood: The Bougival Accord And Its Consequences For New Caledonian/Kanak Independence (Aug. 1, 2025), Verfassungsblog.