What’s New in Public Law

—Ashwani Kumar Singh, Assistant Professor of Law, Vinayaka Mission’s Law School, India.

—Olumide Opeyemi Toyinbo, Postgraduate Student, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Nigeria.

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. Alberta’s Chief Electoral Officer has asked the Court of King’s Bench to rule on whether a proposed referendum on the province’s sovereignty violates the Canadian Constitution. The court’s decision will determine if the vote can legally proceed under constitutional principles.
2. The South African Constitutional Court has agreed to hear the National Prosecuting Authority’s urgent appeal in the Moroadi Cholota extradition case. This challenges a lower ruling that only the justice minister can initiate extradition requests.
3. The Supreme Court of India held that beneficial and remedial legislation must not be diluted by narrow interpretation, and the protections offered therein must be extended purposively to protect the livelihood, dignity and service continuity of employees who acquire disabilities during employment.
4. The Supreme Federal Court of Brazil issued a house arrest order against former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is facing trial for allegedly plotting a coup.
5. The Supreme Court of Kenya ruled that business goodwill is property protected under Article 40 of the Constitution if it is identifiable and measurable. It also held that a subdistributor cannot claim goodwill created by a parent distributor unless the contract allows it.
6. Italy’s Constitutional Court stated that the law on migrant detention in Centers for Repatriation (CPRs) lacks safeguards such as legal counsel, oversight, and defined detainee rights. It urged Parliament to reform the law to meet constitutional standards.

In the News

1. Oby Ezekwesili criticized the Nigerian National Assembly’s constitutional amendment efforts as a charade and insisted that Nigeria needs a new constitution to truly progress.
2. Several key sections of Article I of the U.S. Constitution briefly disappeared from the Library of Congress’s Constitution Annotated website, causing alarm and speculation. The Library blamed a coding error, restored the content, and promised to prevent future issues.
3. New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters said the “right to choose” remains central to the Cook Islands’ relationship with New Zealand. He reaffirmed this during the Cook Islands’ 60th constitutional anniversary celebrations amid growing regional tensions.
4. The Constitutional Council of Cameroon has upheld the electoral commission’s decision to bar opposition leader Maurice Kamto from running in the October 12 presidential election. The council’s ruling is final and cannot be appealed, sparking protests and concerns over the credibility of the vote.
5. Gareth Ward, an Independent MP and a convicted sex offender, has resigned before the NSW Parliament could vote to expel him.
6. Legal expert Chidi Anselm Odinkalu has argued that Nigerian voters should have a constitutional right to join or initiate election petitions, but current law limits this process to candidates or political parties.

New Scholarship

1. David Crabtree, Can unamendable term limits prevent presidents-for-life? (exploring whether unamendable presidential term limits effectively prevent leaders from extending their time in office, and finding that while often ignored in countries with weak constitutional enforcement, such protections can still act as a meaningful deterrent elsewhere). 
2. Keith E. Whittington, Judicial Independence as a Constitutional Construction (exploring judicial independence in the U.S. as a product of constitutional construction and an evolving set of political practices and norms grounded in, but not limited to, the formal Constitution).
3. Tom Gerald Daly, Constitutional Repair: A Comparative Theory (examining how a constitutional democracy can be repaired after being deeply degraded, but not ended, during a period of antidemocratic government).
4. Hila Keren, Constitutional Opportunism (analyzing recent US Supreme Court decisions and arguing that they reflect a broader conservative strategy of constitutional opportunism, aimed at reversing progress on LGBTQ rights). 
5. Vincent Martenet, Abortion Rights Through Consensus (examining whether a consensus on abortion rights among member states of a federal state, of an international organization, or of a supranational community may influence the interpretation of rights guaranteed by a federal constitution or an international convention).
6. Gaurav Mukherjee, Religious Freedom in the Era of Democratic Backsliding (arguing that while international human rights law formally protects religious freedom, its practical force remains weak and uneven-easily co-opted by actors seeking to entrench religious privilege and erode minority rights).
7. Swarati Sabhapandit, The Constitution as a Contested Terrain (exploring the politics of majoritarianism in India, typically perpetuated through the Hindu religious identity).
8. Hanna Suchocka, Contemporary Challenges to Constitutionalism (exploring how constitutionalism in Central and Eastern Europe has evolved since the post-communist transitions, highlighting a shift from alignment with European values to the misuse of constitutional mechanisms by dominant political actors).
9. Patricio Zapata Larrain, Justicia Constitucional (Constitutional Justice) (explaining how Chile’s constitutional reform efforts between 2015 and 2023 failed, leaving the current Constitution delegitimized and politically unstable).

Calls for Papers and Announcements

1. International Journal of Cultural Property is inviting papers for its special issue ‘War, Cultural Property, and Human Rights in the Middle East: Legal and Ethical Dimensions’. Deadline: November 1, 2025. Submission details are here.
2. Opinio Juris is inviting papers for its Fifth Annual Sumposium on Pop Culture and International Law. Deadline: August 22, 2025. Submission details are here.
3. Indian Journal of Criminology is inviting papers for its Volume 53(2). Deadline: November 15, 2025. Submission details are here.
4. Digital Constitutionalism and Policy is inviting scholars to submit abstracts for Workshopn 25 at the World Congress of Constitutional Law 2026. Deadline: September 30, 2025. Submission details are here.
5. Practising Law Institute calls for law student papers on emerging discussions aroung Artificial Intelligence. Deadline: September 19, 2025. Submission details are here.
6. Hawassa University Journal of Law invites legal researchers to contribute to Volume 10 of HUJL towards sharing insights and findings on legal issues, policies, theories, and challenges pertinent to Ethiopia and beyond. Deadline: September 15, 2025. Submission details are here.
7. The Refugee Studies Centre (Oxford) and the International Journal of Refugee Law are inviting submissions for an online workshop to be organized on December 1, 2025. Deadline: September 12, 2025. Submission details are here.
8. Melbourne Social Equity Institute and the University of Melbourne Borders Network are inviting submissions for Migration, Refugees and Statelessness Interdisciplinary Conference 2025. Deadline: August 18, 2025. Submission details are here.
9. Refugee Law Initiate is accepting abstracts for a special issue on ‘Durable Solutions in Motion: Rethinking Return and Belonging from a South-South Perspective’. Deadline: August 15, 2025. Submission details are here.
10. The National Conclave on Law, Gender, and Society, hosted by Amity Law School calls for papers towards exploring the critical intersections of legal discourse, gender justice and societal transformation in the 21^st century. Deadline: September 5, 2025. Submission details are here.
11. The NUSRL Journal of Law and Public Policy seeks scholarly writings on issues intersecting law, governance, and public policy. Deadline: October 31, 2025. Submission details are here.

Elsewhere Online

1. Jong Eun Lee, The Challenges of Reforming South Korea’s Constitution (East Asia Forum, 4 August 2025).
2. Anagha Damaraju, Caste Data, Digitisation and its Problematic Impact on Privacy and Policing (SLR Forum, 3 August 2025).
3. Francesca Jackson, Prince Harry, security and RAVEC: Does the Court of Appeal ruling really ‘imprison other members of the royal family from choosing a different life’? (The Constitution Unit Blog, 1 August 2025).
4. Movement Lawyering Against Caste: Violence in Universities, Prisons and Beyond | Adv Disha Wadekar (Law and Other Things Podcast, 30 July 2025).
5. Ilya Somin, Originalism and the Insulaw Case (Constitutional Law JOTWELL, 25 July 2025).
6. Anurag Deb and Nicholas Kilford, Conditioning the UK Parliament’s Power to Legislate for a Devolved Part of the UK: Part II- Some Challenges Posed by Northern Ireland (UK Constitutional Law Blog, 25 July 2025).