What’s New in Public Law

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—Chiara Graziani, Research Fellow in Comparative Public Law, University of Milan-Bicocca (Italy) and Academic Fellow, Bocconi University (Italy)

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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 Constitutional Court of Ukraine issued a statement on the presidential decree suspending the Chairperson from judicial office.
2. The Turkish Constitutional Court ruled on the violation of the right to liberty and security of a journalist arrested after the 2016 failed coup d’état.
3. The US Supreme Court denied a bid by a Republican congressman to reverse President Donald Trump’s election defeat.
4. The Alaska Supreme Court will hear a challenge against elections in a state House.
5. The Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered the government to rebuild a historical Hindu temple that was vandalized and destroyed.

In the News

1. The joint session of the US Congress certifying Joe Biden’s win was suspended and forced into recess, since violent supporters of President Donald Trump breached the Capitol Hill?.
2. US Congressional democrats called for immediate impeachment of President Donald Trump.
3. A new piece of legislation was adopted in the US bringing significant changes in the anti-money laundering regime.
4. The UN Security Council adopted a new resolution encouraging states to engage more actively in the fight against terrorism.
5. The EU Commission presented a comprehensive reform setting new rules for digital platforms.

New Scholarship

1. Simon Chesterman, Artificial Intelligence and the Limits of Legal Personality (2020) International and Comparative Law Quarterly (investigating whether AI systems should be entrusted a status comparable to natural persons)
2. Tom Ginsburg and Mila Versteeg, The Bound Executive: Emergency Powers During the Pandemic (2020) (arguing that, during the Covid-19 pandemic, domestic executives have not been totally unbound, but courts and legislatures played a significant role in constraining them)
3. Laurence R. Helfer, Rethinking Derogations from Human Rights Treaties (2021 forthcoming) American Journal of International Law (critically assessing the existing system of human rights treaty derogations and how it has worked in times of Covid-19)
4. Romain Mertens, Freedom of religion and freedom of demonstration during the Covid-19 Pandemic: a comparative analysis of administrative case law in France and Belgium (2020) Ius Publicum Network Review (examining measures aimed at curbing the Covid-19 pandemic that impact on freedom of religion and of demonstration with a specific focus on Belgium and France)
5. Alexander Tsesis, Free Speech in the Balance (2020) (providing a comprehensive study of proportional analysis in free speech cases)

Calls for Papers and Announcements

1. The International Forum on the Future of Constitutionalism is launching ConstitutionWorld, a resource to connect scholars of constitutions and constitutionalism all around the world. Scholars of all levels of seniority are welcome to join.
2. The Graduate Law Students Association of the McGill’s University Law Faculty announced a call for papers on “Law and Cities.” Abstracts are due by January 31, 2021.
3. The University of Miami will hold a conference on the theme “We Robot 2021.” The deadline for paper proposals is February 1, 2021.
4. The University of St. Thomas School of Law invites submissions to the Journal of Law and Public Policy for an upcoming Virtual Symposium on “Alternate Realities, Conspiracy Theory, and the Constitutional and Democratic Order.” Proposals are due by February 28, 2021.
5. The South African Society for Critical Theory invites contributions to a special issue of Acta Academica on “Pandemic Politics.” The deadline to submit papers is February 28, 2021.
6. The Forced Migration Review launched a call for papers on “Non-signatory States and the international refugee regime.” The deadline for submissions is March 15, 2021.

Elsewhere Online

1. Richard Avinesh Wagenländer, An Order of Deferential Monism: Why the Bundesverfassungsgericht’s PSPP Ruling Merely Restates the Limits of the EU Legal System, European Law Blog
2. Mark Elliott, The UK-EU Brexit Agreements and ‘Sovereignty’: Having One’s Cake and Eating It?, Public Law for Everyone
3. Jeff King, The Prime Minister’s Constitutional Options after the Benn Act: Part II, UKCLA Blog
4. Robert Liao, Local citizens’ assemblies in the UK: an early report card, The Constitution Unit
5. Kim Lane Scheppele, Insurrection, Verfassungsblog