What’s New in Public Law

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–Mohamed Abdelaal, Assistant Professor, Alexandria University Faculty 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 Supreme Court of the Netherlands ordered the government to reduce greenhouse emissions by 25 percent by the end of 2020. The Court noted that “every country is responsible for its part and can, therefore, be called to account for it.”
2. The Constitutional Court of Ukraine declared a bill reducing the number of Ukrainian MPs to 300 constitutional.
3. The High Court of Kenya will decide on whether to compel the President to swear in judicial appointments.
4. The Constitutional Court of Austria ruled that reducing welfare money aimed at immigrants is unconstitutional.
5. The Supreme Court of Poland warned that the government’s plans to overhaul the judicial system could force EU departure.
6. The European Court of Justice held that airlines may be liable for harm caused by hot coffee to passengers.

In the News

1. In Iraq, Kurdistan Regional Parliament Speaker calls for renewed efforts to draft regional constitution.
2. Political parties in Nicaragua presented a broad proposal for electoral reforms.
3. The Labour Committee in Romania’s Chamber of Deputies voted to abolish special pensions, with the exception of military ones.
4. US House of Representatives impeaches President Donald Trump.
5. The Ukrainian Parliament passed a bill that cancels prosecutorial immunity for lawmakers.
6. The US Senate approved a bill to crack down on robocalls.
7. The Constitutional Review Commission of Gambia concluded public consultations on the new draft Constitution.

New Scholarship

1. Faraguna, Pietro, Populism and Constitutional Amendment, in Delledonne, Martinico, Monti, Pacini, Italian Populism and Constitutional Law,  (forthcoming 2020) (offering a conceptual map of the populist abuse of constitutional amendment on a theoretical level)
2. Janeček, Václav, Ownership of Personal Data in the Internet of Things, 34 Computer Law & Security Review 1039-1052 (2018) (examining the traditional dividing line between personal and non-personal data and argues for a strict conceptual separation of personal data from personal information)
3. Priel, Dan, Evidence-Based Jurisprudence: An Essay for Oxford, Analisi e Diritto (2020) (arguing that much contemporary jurisprudence takes a very narrow understanding of the subject matter, and gives priority, to the point of exclusivity, to one methodological approach — analytic philosophy — over all others)
4. Tsai, Robert L., Considerations of History and Purpose in Constitutional Borrowing, 28 William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal (forthcoming 2019) (arguing that it is a judge’s responsibility to help foster an unruly constitutional culture where overlapping rights and values are ubiquitous rather than to be obsessed with maintaining a mythical notion of balance)
5. Peterson, Farah, Constitutionalism in Unexpected Places, Virginia Law Review (forthcoming 2020) (discussing the point that before, during, and after the ratification of the federal Constitution of 1787, Americans believed that they were governed under an unwritten constitution)
6. Twomey, Anne, Brexit, the Prerogative, the Courts and Article 9 of the Bill of Rights (2019) (considering the Brexit controversies in the United Kingdom from an Australian parliamentary perspective)
7. Sigalet, Geoff, Webber, Grégoire and Dixon, Rosalind, Introduction: The ‘What’ and ‘Why’ of Constitutional Dialogue (2019) (exploring dialogue’s democratic significance, examines its relevance to the functioning and design of constitutional institutions, and covers constitutional dialogues from an international and transnational perspective)
8. Odile Ammann, Domestic Courts and the Interpretation of International Law – Methods and Reasoning Based on the Swiss Example (Brill/Nijhoff 2019) (exploring the interpretation of international law in Swiss domestic courts)

Call for Papers and Announcements

1. The International Society of Public Law welcomes submissions for the Annual Conference at the University of Wroclaw in Poland on July 9-11, 2020.
2. The online platform Democratic Decay & Renewal (DEM-DEC) released its latest Global Research Update (November-December 2019 – available here), containing new research worldwide from late October to late December 2019; items suggested by DEM-DEC users; a list of forthcoming research; and new additions to the Resources Database. The Update Editorial was published on the IACL-AIDC Blog on Thursday 19 December, and will shortly be published on Verfassungsblog.
3. The Athens Public International Law Center of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens School of Law has issued a call for papers for a colloquium on “International Investment Law & State Capitalism,” which will take place October 15-16, 2020, in Athens.
4. The ESIL Interest Group History of International Law will host a pre-conference workshop on “The Founding of Solidarity in the International Community” for graduate and Ph.D. students as well as early-career scholars at the 2020 ESIL Research Forum at the University of Catania.
5. The Indian Contemporary Law Review (ICLR) invites manuscripts for its Volume 1, Issue 4.
6. The American Constitution Society is pleased to announce the Thirteenth Annual Richard D. Cudahy Writing Competition on Regulatory and Administrative Law.
7. A call for applications has been issued to the Winter Seminar 2020 on freedom and security.
8. HKU Law is now taking applications for its two-year Global Academic Fellows program. The aim of the fellowship is to provide aspiring law professors time and resources to focus on preparing to enter the international teaching market. Apply here and submit any questions to the Director at jkroncke@hku.hk.

Elsewhere Online

1. David R. Cameron, Blue wave knocks down the red wall and UK will leave EU on Jan. 31, Yale MacMillan Center
2. Benjamin G. Davis, A Perfect Impeachment of Presidential Crime: Emmitt Till Justice or Nuremberg Justice?, Jurist
3. Jennifer Koshan and Linda McKay-Panos, The Alberta Inquiry and Freedom of Expression, ABlawg
4. Dan Harris, Why China Chaos and Crackdowns Will Make 2020 the Best Year Ever for International Business Lawyers, China Law Blog
5. US Supreme Court Could Limit Job Bias Lawsuits Against Churches, Voice of America
6. Emre Turkut, Osman Kavala v. Turkey: Unravelling the Matryoshka Dolls, Strasbourg Observers