What’s New in Public Law

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–Swapnil Tripathi, Attorney, India

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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 iconnecteditors@gmail.com.

Developments in Constitutional Courts

1. The Austrian Constitutional Court found the headscarf ban in elementary schools as unconstitutional.
2. The Austrian Constitutional Court held that government measures mandating mask-wearing and splitting classes into two halves were illegal.
3. The Indian Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the seats reserved for the Scheduled Caste members in the Panchayat elections.
4. The Kosovo Constitutional Court found the election of the Centre’s coalition government to be unconstitutional.
5. The Romania Constitutional Court struck down a legislative amendment that banned gender studies in university education.

In the News

1. Altin Binaj was sworn in as the fifth member of the Constitutional Court of Albania.
2. Hungary amended its Constitution to effectively ban same-sex couples’ adoption and define a family according to traditional Christian views of marriage, family, and gender.
3. Minnesota town approved a permit for whites only church.
4. Prime Minister of Nepal called for fresh elections.
5. Parliament of Somalia passed a constitutional amendment, extending the presidential term from four to five years.

New Scholarship

1. David Levine, Should the power of presidential power be revised?, The Judges’ Book (arguing that the abuse of presidential pardoning power can be checked through a constitutional amendment that requires the co-signature of the Speaker of the House of Representative with every pardon)
2. Jie Huang, Applicable Law to Transnational Personal Data: Trends and Dynamics, German Law Journal (discussing the lack of a law governing transnational personal data amongst nations and argues for achieving regional coordination between states to achieve personal data protection)
3. Mark Tushnet, Amending the Constitution in Taking Back the Constitution: Activist Judges and the Next Age of American Law (arguing in favour of the possibility of amending the United States Constitution outside of Article V, using the tool of popular sovereignty)
4. Michael D. Breidenbach and Owen Anderson (eds), The Cambridge Companion to the First Amendment and Religious Liberty (examining the general topic of religious freedom focusing on philosophical foundations, historical interpretations and interplay between law, politics and economics)
5. Tarunabh Khaitan, The Indian Supreme Court’s identity crisis: a constitutional court or a court of appeals?, Indian Law Review (empirically examining the decision making of the Indian Supreme Court and arguing that its expansive docket has hampered its role as an effective Constitutional Court)

Calls for Papers and Announcements

1. The Contemporary Central and East European Law Journal published by the Institute of Law Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, invites submission for its 2^nd volume. The deadline for the submission is 15 March 2021.
2. The Indian Journal of Constitutional Law published by the NALSAR University of Law, invites submissions for its 10^th volume. The deadline for submission is 17 January 2021.
3. The Journal of Legal Studies published by the National Law University, Delhi (India) invites submissions for its 3^rd volume. The deadline for submissions is 10 January 2021.
4. The Sixth Annual Constitutional Law Scholars Forum (American Constitution Society of Law and Policy, Barry University Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law ACS Student Chapter & Law Review, and Texas A&M University of Law) invites proposals on any topic of constitutional law. The deadline for submission is 12 January 2021.
5. The University of Michigan Law School is inviting submissions for its 7^th Annual Junior Scholars Conference. The deadline for submission is 4 January 2021.

Elsewhere Online

1. Swapnil Tripathi, Gender and the Supreme Court of India, Live Law
2. Sufyan Droubi, Marques Osorio and Luiz Eloy, The Brazilian Federal Supreme Court comes to the protection of indigenous people’s right to health in the face of Covid-19, EJIL Talk!
3. Ian Millheiser, The Supreme Court’s confusing new “religious liberty” order, explained, Vox
4. Jan Wolf, Explainer: Can anything stop Trump from pardoning his family or even himself?, KFGO
5. Stephen Wermiel, On the Supreme Court’s shadow docket, the steady volume of pandemic cases continues, SCOTUS Blog