What’s New in Public Law

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—Matteo Mastracci, PhD Researcher, Koç University, Istanbul

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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. Kosovo’s Supreme Court barred a former prime minister Friday from running in the country’s early parliamentary election next month because he was sentenced for a crime in the last three years.
2. Romania’s Constitutional Court rejected as breaching the Constitution a law promoted by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) aimed at capping the interest rates charged by banks and non-bank financial institutions for retail (mortgage and consumer) loans.
3. The Constitutional Court of Malta has ordered that drug proceedings against a vulnerable teenager start afresh after ruling that a guilty plea he filed was vitiated by a potential human rights breach.
4. The South African Constitutional Court ordered former president Jacob Zuma to appear and testify before the state capture inquiry set up to probe corruption during his administration.
5. The South Korean Court has ruled on the constitutionality of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) confirming that its establishment is in accordance with the Constitution.

In the News

1. Constitutional crisis blocks new Tunisian ministers from oath of office.
2. Portugal’s parliament voted on Friday to legalise euthanasia, setting the country up to become the seventh in the world to allow terminally ill patients to seek assistance from a doctor to end their life.
3. The Constitutional Court of Albania has reviewed on Tuesday the first case since 2018, when it was made dysfunctional due to the vetting in the justice system resulting in its judges being fired or resigning.
4. The General Elections Commission (KPU) is preparing to face more than a hundred regional election disputes filled at the Constitutional Court of Indonesia for election disputes.
5. The UN Human Rights Committee has found that Italy failed to protect the right to life of more than 200 migrants who were on board a vessel that sank in the Mediterranean Sea in 2013.
6. Ukraine requests Venice Commission’s opinion on the draft Law “On Constitutional Procedure” and on the draft Law “On the Procedure for Consideration of Cases and Execution of Decisions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine” (CCU).

New Scholarship

1. András Sajó, Ruling by Cheating. Governance in Illiberal Democracy (2021) (showing the deceptiveness of illiberal claims in a comparative set of illiberal democracies from Venezuela to Poland)
2. Brian Christopher Jones, Democracy and Rule of Law in China’s Shadow (2021) (delivering a contemporary understanding of how democracy and the rule of law converge in China)
3. Eugénie Mérieau, Constitutional Bricolage. Thailand’s Sacred Monarchy vs. The Rule of Law (2021) (exploring the intricacies of the constitutional model in operation in Thailand)
4. James E. Pfander, Cases Without Controversies. Uncontested Adjudication in Article III Courts (2021) (providing a new synthesis of the case-or-controversy rule in U.S. courts)
5. Margit Cohn, A Theory of the Executive Branch: Tension and Legality (2021) (exploring the executive branch and executive powers in Western democracies in a comparative perspective and providing detailed analysis of the ways law enables executives)
6. Victoria Miyandazi, Equality in Kenya’s 2010 Constitution. Understanding the Competing and Interrelated Conceptions (2021) (offering a principled and comparative approach on inequalities in Kenya’s Constitution)

Calls for Papers and Announcements

1. Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa (SNS) invites applications for 14 PhDs positions in the Political Science and Sociology department. Deadline for submission is March 1, 2021.
2. The Faculty of Law at the University of Helsinki invites applications for three post-doctoral researchers in international organizations law for a fixed term of 4 years. Deadline for submission is February 17, 2021.
3. The Forced Migration Review is inviting submissions for its 67th Issue’s feature on public health and WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene). Deadline for submissions is March 1, 2021.
4. The Vienna Journal of International Constitutional Law (ICL Journal) is accepting submissions for its special issue on “Hegel’s Legal Philosophy and International Constitutional Law.” Deadline for submissions is February 28, 2021.
5. Women & Criminal Justice, the only periodical devoted to scholarly interdisciplinary, global research on all concerns related to women and criminal justice, is now accepting manuscripts for a special issue on LBGTQ+ Crime and Victimization.  This special issue will be published in 2022.

Elsewhere Online

1. Asylai Akisheva, “Kelinism” in Kyrgyzstan: Women’s Rights Versus Traditional Values, The Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs
2. Brian Christopher Jones and Maartje De Visser, The Complex Relationship between Constitutional Idolatry, Literacy and Identity, IACL-IADC Blog
3. Campbell MacGillivray, A Bolsonarist Cat Among the Pigeons, Verfassungsblog
4. Elif Erken and Claire Loven, The Recent Rise in ECtHR Inter-State Cases in Perspective, ECHR Blog
5. Elnura Omurkulova-Ozierska, Kyrgyzstan’s ‘Third Revolution’ and the Road to Another Victor’s Constitution, ConstitutionNet
6. Emma Várnagy, X and Y v North Macedonia: A missed opportunity to improve the case law on anti-Roma custodial violence, Strasbourg Observers
7. Joe Tomlinson and Lewis Graham, How do you solve a problem like judicial review reform?, Constitution Unit
8. Lina Schmitz-Buhl, Enforced disappearances in Syria and the Al Khatib trial in Germany, Vöelkerrechtsblog
9. Marko Milanovic, Amicus Curiae Brief re MH17; Human Rights Committee on Search and Rescue at Sea, EJIL: Talk!
10. Veronica Anghel, Joe Biden will balance security interests and the rule of law in Central and Eastern Europe, The Loop