What’s New in Comparative Public Law

–Mohamed Abdelaal, Alexandria University (Egypt)

In this weekly feature, I-CONnect publishes a curated reading list of developments in comparative 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 comparative public law blogosphere.

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

Developments in Constitutional Courts

1. The German Constitutional Court ruled that Germans have the right to insult the police.
2. Malawi High Court ruled mandatory HIV tests unconstitutional.
3. The Supreme Court of the Virgin Island permits second-parent adoptions by same-sex couples.
4. A federal judge in Alabama ruled that Alabama’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional pending the ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States.

In the News

1. In Spain, the opposition challenged the constitutionality of a new “gag law.”
2. Egypt appoints a new Minister of Justice.
3. According to Amnesty International, Qatar’s government has failed in delivering migrant labor reforms.
4. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that tobacco companies don’t have to advertise that they lied about the dangers of smoking.
5. A federal judge has declared the Washington, D.C., Gun Carry Law unconstitutional.
6. Nebraska lawmakers approve bill abolishing death penalty.

New Scholarship

1. Richard Albert, The Difficulty of Constitutional Amendment in Canada, 39 Alberta Law Review (forthcoming 2015) (explaining and evaluating the extra-textual sources of formal amendment difficulty in Canada, and inquiring whether they undermine the purpose of writtenness)
2. Xenophon Contiades & Alkmene Fotiadou, On Resilience of Constitutions. What Makes Constitutions Resistant to External Shocks?, 9(1) Vienna Journal of International Constitutional Law (2015) (discussing the relation between constitutions and resilience in light of the role of constitutions during the global financial crisis)
3. Rehan Abeyratne, Executive Power in India and Sri Lanka, Reforming Sri Lankan Presidentialism: Provenance, Problems and Prospects, Asanga Welikala (ed), Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2015 (exploring the separation of powers in Sri Lanka from a comparative perspective)
4. Jason N. E. Varuhas, Against Unification, in Wilberg and M. Elliott (eds), The Scope and Intensity of Substantive Review: Traversing Taggart’s Rainbow (forthcoming 2015) (discussing arguments for and against the unification common law judicial review and human rights law)
5. Richard Alexander Izquierdo, The Architecture of Constitutional Time, 23(4) William & Mary Bill of Rights (2015) (discussing how presidents have constructed distinct constitutional regimes during national crises without overturning the original 1787 Constitution.)
6. Nicholas Aroney, Federalism and Subsidiarity: Principles and Processes in the Reform of the Australian Federation (2015) (providing comparative guidance on how Australia’s federal system might best be reformed)
7. Neil Walker, The Antinomies of Constitutional Authority, in M Del Mar and R Cotterrell (eds) Authority beyond the State (forthcoming) (examining how state constitutionalism has sought to find a balance between the contending forces within the structural dimension of constitutionalism, the ethical dimension of constitutionalism, the functional dimension of constitutionalism, and the socio-cultural dimension of constitutionalism.)

Call for Papers and Announcements

1. The Italian Association of Comparative Law will hold its Biennial Colloquium in Palermo on June 11-13, 2015, on “Teaching Comparative Law.”
2. The 2016 AALS Panel of the Section on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Issues (SOGII) will accept one abstract to be presented in a panel under the theme of “What’s Next For the LGBT Movement after the Marriage Cases: Defects in Anti-Discrimination Laws and Religious Freedom Challenges.”
3. Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review has issued a call for papers for its November Symposium “The Public & Private Insurance Implications of Climate Change’s Drastic Challenges.”
4. Washington University School of Law is now accepting abstracts for its Tenth Annual Conference on Empirical Legal Studies to be held on October 30-31, 2015 in Washington University School of Law, St. Louis, MO.
5. The Faculty of Law of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem invites applications for its Summer Institute for Law and Policy, June 29- July 15, 2015.
6. The New Zealand Historical Association (NZHA) invites submissions from postgraduates for a mini-conference dedicated to Magna Carta and its legacy to be held in New Zealand, December 2-4, 2015.

Elsewhere on Blogs

1. Gerard Magliocca, Why Do We Have Bicameralism?, Concurring Opinions
2. Jacob Gershman, Police: You Need a Warrant to Search Our Phones, WSJ LawBlog
3. Caroline Mala Corbin, Paperwork as a Substantial Religious Burden, Jurist
4. Lissa Griffin, Hearsay and Confrontation: Recorded Victim Statements in the US and UK, Comparative Law Prof Blog
5. Clara Burbano-Herrera, It is time to take maternal mortality in Kenya seriously, AfricLaw
6. Ibrahim Al-bakri Nyei, What do the people want? Demands for expansion of rights and a Christian state through constitutional reform in Liberia, ConstitutionNet