What’s New in Public Law

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–Boldizsár-Szentgáli Tóth, Research Fellow at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Etvos Loránd University

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Developments in Constitutional Courts

1. The Supreme Court of India agreed to examine if religious places of all faiths can be reopened.
2. The Supreme Court of Latvia organized a public survey on the issues of the rule of law. Kore than 1000 respondents from all over Latvia participated in the process and called for more clearly defined laws.
3. Representatives of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine took part in the discussion on issues of restriction of human rights and freedoms in health emergencies.
4. The Constitutional Court of Turkey ruled that preventing those who were dismissed from public service from bar registration violated the principle of legality.

In the News

1. The Supreme Court of Arizona ruled that backers of voter initiatives must collect qualifying signatures in person even during a pandemic because the Arizona Constitution requires it.
2. The Arizona Supreme Court ruled that a state law that creates harsher sentences for people who threaten others only because they associate with or belong to a gang is unconstitutional.
3. Alaska Supreme Court struck down that authorized subject-to-appropriation bonds to pay outstanding cashable oil and gas tax credits that were issued during a tax credit program that ended in 2017.
4. British Columbia Supreme Court decided against legalizing private health care following a decade-long battle.
5. The President of Albania set next April as the date for the country’s next parliamentary election, a critical condition for starting negotiations to join the European Union.
6. The Government of Sri Lanka proposed increased presidential powers. Protests were held in the capital against the pro-president constitutional amendment.
7. Nevada will hold a referendum to repeal the same-sex marriage ban from the state constitution.
8. The President of Guinea seeks a third term despite opposition.
9. Algeria parliament adopted constitutional reforms that will bring “radical change,” and broad debate on a complete revision of the Constitution will start in September.
10. The President of Belarus addressed the possibility of holding a debate on early presidential elections, stating that such an election should go hand in hand with the planned amendment of the Constitution.
11. A constitutional amendment motion failed in Thailand due to defections from the Democrat voting bloc.
12. Expert discussions will be held in Ukraine concerning a constitutional amendment on decentralisation.

New Scholarship

1. Richard Albert, Derek O’Brien, and Se-shauna Wheatle (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Caribbean Constitutions (2020) (providing a first-of-its-kind resource studying the operation of constitutional law across the entire Caribbean, embracing the linguistic, political, and cultural diversity of the region)
2. Ulrich Stelkens and Agnė Andrijauskaitė (eds), Good Administration and the Council of Europe: Law, Principles, and Effectiveness (2020) (analyzing the sources and functions of European general principles of good administration)
3. Ran Hirschl, City, State Constitutionalism and the Megacity (2020) (providing detailed, first-of-its-kind, comparative analysis of the constitutional status of cities across time and place)
4. Bede Harrys, Constitutional Reform as a Remedy for Political Disenchantment in Australia: The Discussion We Need (2020) (examining the issues of public opinion on government conduct in Australia and the need for constitutional reform)
5. Julius Yam, Approaching the Legitimacy Paradox in Hong Kong: Lessons for Hybrid Regime Courts, Law and Social Inquiry (2020) (drawing on the experiences of the Hong Kong courts to understand better the legitimacy paradox of court decision-making in hybrid regimes)

Calls for Papers and Announcements

1. The International Forum on the Future of Constitutionalism welcomes submission for “The Global Summit,” to be held on January 12-16, 2021. The first of its kind summit will be both multilingual and multi-time zone, and it offers an opportunity for all-rank of scholars from all over the world to exchange ideas on all areas of constitutionalism. The deadline to submit a proposal for a paper or a fully-formed panel is 8 pm on October 1, 2020.
2. The International Forum on the Future of Constitutionalism organizes a virtual roundtable on “Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America’s Highest Court,” to be held on September 18.
3. Registration is now open for an online seminar on “Democracy in our Digital Age,” featuring Jack Balkin, Kate Klonick, and Vivek Krishnamurthy, organized by the International Forum on the Future of Constitutionalism. The seminar will take place on September 25.
4. The ICON-S Singapore Chapter organizes an online symposium on the subject “(UN)GENDERING PUBLIC LAW IN ASIA?,” to be held on September 23, 2020.
5. Drake University Constitutional Law Center announced the 2020 Constitution Day Speaker, which will be Stephan Gardbaum. The Constitution Day Lecture will take place online, on the subject “The Counter-Playbook: Resisting the Populist Assault on Separation of Powers,” on September 17, 2020.
6. Fifth Annual Melbourne Forum on Constitution-building in Asia and the Pacific is taking place online, every Thursday in September 2020.
7. The Minerva Center for The Rule of Law Under Extreme Conditions invites submissions for the 4th Young Researchers Workshop on Terrorism and Belligerency on the topic of Human Enhancement and Advanced Technologies in Terrorism and Belligerencies. The workshop will take place from June 6-18, 2021. The deadline to submit an abstract is November 19, 2020.
8. The Age of Human Rights Journal (TAHRJ) invites submissions for its June 2021 publication on the topic of Human Rights from Different Approaches. The deadline for submissions is February 1, 2021.
9. The International Journal for the Semiotics of Law (IJSL) and Comparative Legilinguistics invite submissions on the topic “COVID-19 Infodemic – Between Law, Ethics and Fake News.” There will be two special issues for the International Journal for the Semiotics of Law and one special issue for the Comparative Legilinguistics journal. The deadline to submit an abstract is February 10, 2021.

Elsewhere Online

1. Michael Keating, Back to the Unitary State?, Centre on Constitutional Change
2. The Nixon pardon in constitutional retrospect, Constitution Center
3. Jan Komárek, Political Economy in the European Constitutional Imaginary – Moving beyond Fiesole, Verfassungsblog
4. Mathias Goldmann, Integrative Liberalism: A New Paradigm for the Law of Political Economy?, Verfassungsblog
5. Joana Mendes, The Contingency of Governance in the EU, Verfassungsblog
6. Cesare Pinelli, What Comes After Neoliberalism?, Verfassungsblog