What’s New in Public Law

–Angélique Devaux, Cheuvreux Notaires, Paris, France, Diplômée notaire, LL.M. Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law

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 contact.iconnect@gmail.com.

Developments in Constitutional Courts

1. The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany ruled on constitutional requirements related to the establishment of a judicial standby duty for investigating judges.
2. The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Constitution does not guarantee a “painless death” for condemned murderers.
3. The Constitutional Court of Moldova invalidated parts of the Enforcement Code about the time limit on disputing bailiff’s acts.
4. The Supreme Court of Philippines ordered the release of police documents on extrajudicial killings of suspects in the president’s anti-drug crackdown.
5. The Supreme Court of Venezuela held Juan Guaidó in contempt and requested the pro-Maduro National Constituent Assembly to withdraw the opposition leader’s parliamentary immunity.
6. The Slovak National Council selects eight candidates as constitutional judges, failing to resolve the blockage at the Constitutional Court.
7. The Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe ruled that corporal punishment of juvenile convicts is unconstitutional.
8. The Constitutional Council of France invalidated parts of the new anti-protest law.

In the News

1. The Supreme Court of Kentucky upheld abortion law that requires doctors to perform ultrasounds and show foetal images to patients before an abortion.
2. The Second Senate of the German Federal Constitutional Court will hear a case about the exclusion from voting rights in the European elections.
3. The Legislative Council of Hong Kong considers the enactment of law amendments for extradition to Macau, Taiwan, and mainland China on a case-by-case basis.
4. New Zealand government introduced legislation to reduce and restrict semi-automatic firearms.
5. The Parliament of Egypt will vote on changing the 2014 Egyptian Constitution.
6. The National Council of Slovakia passes a constitutional amendment to cap the retirement age.
7. The President of Algeria Abdelaziz Bouteflika resigned amid mass protests and calls by senior military leadership for his departure.
8. The Judicial Services Commission in Zimbabwe has been criticized for ordering 64 horsehair wigs made in London, at the cost of 118,400 GBP, while the country faces economic difficulties.
9. British PM Theresa May formally requested an extension to the UK’s deadline to withdraw from the European Union until June 30.
10. The United Kingdom has established a compensation scheme for those affected by the Windrush scandal: a political scandal, concerning people who were wrongly detained, denied rights, and in some cases wrongly deported by the Home Office.
11. The United States revoked the visa of the ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda in response to her intention to investigate alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.
12. The European Commission launched an infringement procedure by sending a Letter of Formal Notice to Poland regarding the new disciplinary regime for judges.
13. The National Registry of Identification and Civil Status in Peru promotes the use of indigenous names in public records.
14. Japan reveals the name of the new Imperial era ahead of Emperor’s abdication. The new era starts on May 1, when Crown Prince Naruhito successes to the throne following the abdication of Emperor Akihito, a day earlier.

New Scholarship

1. Anna Fruhstorfer (2019), Consistency in constitutional design and its effect on democracy, Democratization (2019) (theorizing consistency and inconsistency in the constitutional design and change)
2. Oleksiy Kresin, Comparative Legal Studies 1750 to 1835, Approaches to Conceptualization (2019) (examining the origins of comparative law as a discipline by considering the period from 1750 to 1835)
3. Vincenzo Zeno-Zencovich, Comparative Legal Systems. A short and illustrated Introduction (2019) (providing an introduction to comparative law and comparative legal systems)
4. Tom Ginsburg and Mila Versteeg, From Catalonia to California: Secession in Consitutional Law, Alabama Law Review (2019) (offering a comprehensive exploration of how the world’s constitutions treat secession and how constitutional secession clauses can affect real-world secessionist disputes)
5. Silvia Setu, Gender in Comparative Constitutional Change, in Xenophon Contiades and Alkmene Fotiadou (eds.), Routledge Handbook on Comparative Constitutional Change (2019) (bridging the gap between the literature on comparative constitutional change and gender and constitutionalism)
6. George Anderson and Sujit Choudhry (eds), Territory and Power in Constitutional Transitions (2019) (surveying the full range of challenges that territorial conflicts pose for constitution-making processes and constitutional design)
7. Neal Devins and Lawrence Baum, The Company They Keep: How Partisan Divisions Came to the Supreme Court (2019) (explaining, using social psychology, why Supreme Court Justices respond more to elite social networks with which they identify than to majority views in the general public)
8. Charles Gardner Geyh, Who is to Judge? The Perennial Debate Over Whether to Elect or Appoint America’s Judges (2019) (arguing in favor of a moderate position between the poles judicial election and appointment)
9. Jaclyn L Neo and Ngoc Son Bui, Pluralist Constitutions in Southeast Asia (2019) (examining the presence of ethnic, religious, political, and ideational pluralities in Southeast Asian societies and how their respective constitutions respond to these pluralities)
10. Ester Herlin-Karnell, The Constitutional Structure of Europe’s Area of ‘Freedom, Security and Justice’ and the Right to Justification (2019) (exploring the idea of freedom as non-domination and the constitutional implications of this view for EU security regulation)
11. Elizabeth Wicks, The State and the Body: Legal Regulation of Bodily Autonomy (2019) (probing limits of the legitimate role of the state in regulating the human body)

Calls for Papers and announcements

1. Junge Wissenschaft im Öffentlichen Recht e.V., supported by Noerr LLP, Verlag Kohlhammer, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, Walther-Schücking-Gesellschaft and the European Commission invite submissions for a conference on “The Lisbon Treaty 10 years On. Reflections on the Future of European Integration,” to be held in Berlin, on June 21, 2019.
2. The University of Tel Aviv invites submissions for the 5th Annual TAU Workshop for Junior Scholars in Law to be held on Novembre 17-19, 2019, at the Buchmann Faculty of Law in Tel Aviv, Israel.
3. The University of Rome Tor Vergata invites submissions for a workshop on the topic “Understanding the EU Crisis: Legal, Political and Philosophical Interpretations,” to be held on May 18, 2019.
4. The Société de législation comparée organizes a competition in comparative law. Papers can be in French or English. The submission deadline is October 15, 2019.
5. Loyola University Chicago School of Law invites submissions for its Tenth Annual Constitutional Law Colloquium, to be held on November 8-9, 2019. The submission deadline is June 21.
6. The Odysseus Network, the EMN-Finland and the European Policy Centre (EPC) invite submissions for a conference on “From Tampere 20 to Tampere 2.0: Towards a new programme (2020-24) for EU migration and asylum policies 20 years after the Tampere conclusions?,” to be held in Helsinki on October 24-25, 2019.
7. Católica Law Review invites submissions for the 2020 January issue. The deadline for submissions is September 30, 2019.
8. KU Leuven invites applications for short-term grants for up to 90 days from researchers from Global South. The deadline for applications is May 10, 2019.
9. The Academy of European Law (AEL) invites papers for a conference on EU equality law to be held at the European University Institute in Florence, on October 10-11, 2019. The deadline for abstracts is June 17.
10. The University of Copenhagen invites applications for two teaching position in Advanced EU Constitutional Law and European Data Protection Law. The deadline for applications is September 1, 2019.

Elsewhere Online

1. András Jakab, How to Defend the Integrity of the EP Elections against Authoritarian Member States, Verfassungsblog
2. Chrystie Flournoy Swiney, Laws are chipping away at democracy around the world, Pri.org
3. Iulia Motoc, Chapter Summary: The dialogue between the ECHR and the Italian Constitutional Court: the sage of “GIEM and Others v. Italy”, IACL-AIDC blog
4. Stefan Theil, Unconstitutional Prorogation, UK Constitutional Law Association
5. Recent case: Planned Parenthood v. Hodges, Harvard Law Review
6. Colin P.A. Jones, Heisei’s legal legacies include greater civic participation, The Japan Times
7. Neil Siegel, Justice Frankfurter’s Misplaced Legitimacy Concerns in the Reapportionment Cases, Balkinization
8. Suzanna Sherry and Christopher Sundby, The risks of Supreme Court term limits, SCOTUSblog
9. Mark Tushnet, Court-Packing On the Table in the United States?, Verfassungsblog
10. Eliana Barrera and Leonardo Cofré, Chile’s debt to children: State engagement in children´s rights protection, OxHRH
11. Kai Ambos and Susann Aboueldahab, Colombia: Time for the ICC Prosecutor to Act?, EJIL: Talk!
12. Pierre de Vos, What can voters do about the scoundrels whose names appear on electoral lists?, Constitutionally Speaking
13. Cristiano d’Orsi, Some rays of light on the plight of irregular migration within Africa, AfricLaw
14. Aaron Moss and William Isdale, Where to Next? Native Title Compensation following Timber Creek, AUSPUBLAW
15. Richard Clayton, Transforming Judicial Selection Procedures: Privy Council Changes Trinidad High Court Selection Procedure, UK Constitutional Law Association
16. Mark Elliott, Does the Prime Minister’s request for an Article 50 extension scupper the Cooper-Letwin Bill?, Public Law for Everyone
17. Jim Gallagher, Citizens’ assemblies: breaking the Brexit deadlock?, The Constitution Unit
18. David R. Cameron, House of Commons rejects withdrawal agreement for third time so the UK will leave the EU in two weeks — unless it doesn’t, Yale MacMillan Center
19. Rouven Diekjobst and Judith Prasse, New peak in the dispute concerning the Golan Heights: On the recognition of the Golan Heights as Israeli territory by Donald Trump, Völkerrechtsblog
20. Jahnavi Sindhu and Vikram Aditya Narayan, Historical Argument Supporting Proportionality Review under the Indian Constitution, Admin Law Blog
21. Wilson Tay Tze Vern, Restoring the Constitutional Status of Sabah and Sarawak: First Step in A Long Journey of Redemption, ConstitutionNet