As disturbing new reports come in [see here, here and here] finding abnormally high levels of thyroid growths in children of Japan's Fukushima prefecture, there is renewed attention being drawn to the Democratic Party of Japan government's controversial decision to re-open some nuclear plants this past summer.  Some polls have showed that 70% of citizens...

Constitutional waters are turbulent in Spain, as a result of recent events in Catalonia. On September 11, large numbers of Catalans took to the streets in Barcelona to celebrate the annual Diada nacional. This time, however, they did so under a new banner: “Catalonia: the next European state”. People chanted “independence, independence”. Although there is...

- Ragnhildur Helgadóttir, Professor of Law, Reykjavík University The revision of the Icelandic constitution (see posts from Oct. 15 and 21) was an important part of the reaction to the financial crisis of 2008. Following the crash, a government had to leave office and a Parliamentary Investigative Commission handed in a black report on the...

--Gedion T. Hessebon, SJD Candidate, Central European University, Budapest and Assistant Lecturer Addis Ababa University (on leave), African Network of Constitutional Lawyers --Laura-Stella Enonchong, University of Warwick, African Network of Constitutional Lawyers In much of Africa and other fragile democracies, succession to the helm of national leadership often creates a lot of uncertainty. The risk...

--Michael Pal, SJD Candidate and Trudeau Scholar, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto Prior to yesterday's eagerly anticipated decision in Opitz v. Wrzesnewskyj, 2012 SCC 55 [“Opitz”], the Supreme Court of Canada had not been called upon to resolve a disputed election since 1942, when the Court annulled the result of a federal district election. Opitz clarifies how courts...

--Dominic J Nardi, Jr, University of Michigan Department of Political Science Myanmar’s[1] constitution – adopted after a controversial referendum in May 2008 – created the country’s first constitutional court in half a century. Initially, few if any observers believed the Constitutional Tribunal would play a significant role. However, within a few months, the tribunal seemed to be...

--Tokujin MATSUDAIRA, Teikyo University On October 17, 2012, the Japanese Supreme Court released a judgment from the grand bench regarding the constitutionality of the 2010 election of Sangiin (House of Councillors). In that election, the ruling DPP failed to keep its majority in the upper house, launching a period of political chaos. Plaintiffs had argued...

--Tom Ginsburg With two-thirds of the votes counted, it appears that Iceland's citizen-drafted proposal for constitutional reform is headed for victory. Roughly half of eligible voters turned out for the referendum, which asked voters to consider six different questions covering key aspects of the proposed new Constitution.  The draft included an expanded set of citizen...

--Laura-Stella Enonchong, University of Warwick, African Network of Constitutional Lawyers  On 03 October 2012, the House of Assembly of the Kingdom of Swaziland, which has often been regarded as an enfeebled institution, passed a historic vote of no confidence in the Cabinet. According to the Swazi Constitution (arts. 68(5) & 134(5)(b) the Prime Minister (PM)...

--Richard Stith, Valparaiso University The German Federal Constitutional Court’s decision of September 12, 2012, has been welcomed by some as signaling yet another political retreat, yet another ”Son of Solange II”. But what should bring joy to the heart of every American comparative law teacher is that, whether retreat or advance, every new “red line” drawn...

--Alexandra Huneeus, University of Wisconsin   Hugo Chavez’s election victory last Sunday bodes badly for the Organization of American States’ Human Rights System.  On September 10, 2012, Venezuela denounced the American Convention of Human Rights so as to remove itself from the oversight of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights .  Chavez’s challenger had promised...

--Javier Couso, Universidad Diego Portales, Chile A few weeks ago, on September 6th, the government of Venezuela denounced the American Convention on Human Rights.[1] According to the procedure set by Article 78.1 of the latter, within a year of this official notification Venezuela will no longer be part of this treaty, and thus no longer...