What’s New in Public Law

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–Wilson Seraine da Silva Neto, Master Student at the University of Coimbra, Portugal; Postgraduate Student in Constitutional Law at Brazilian Academy of Constitutional Law

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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 Supreme Court of the United States heard arguments in an Arizona case that could further undermine the access to ballot protection in the Voting Rights Act.
2. The Supreme Court of the United States heard arguments in a case on whether administrative patent judges must be appointed exclusively by the President.
3. The Supreme Court of Canada upheld the decision of the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal that overturned a 2017 ruling limiting public funding for non-Catholic students attending Catholic schools in the province.
4. The Plurinational Constitutional Court of Bolivia held that permanent residence requirements could not be demanded from candidates who prove they have been asylees, refugees or politically persecuted.
5. After more than 15 years of debate, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that non-Orthodox converts to Judaism are Jewish and thus entitled to become citizens.
6. The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom allowed Nigerian citizens’ claim for environmental damage to proceed against a UK parent company.
7. The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany requested a preliminary ruling by the Court of Justice of the EU on whether a data subject should receive compensation, even if they have not suffered material damage.
8. The Supreme Court of Ghana dismissed the case filed by the opposition leader and declared the incumbent Akufo-Addo winner of the 2020 presidential election.
9. Opposition MPs in Slovakia filed a second case in the Constitutional Court against the constitutional amendment on judicial reform adopted in December 2020.

In the News

1. The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy received a three-year prison sentence on charges of trying to bribe a judge and influence-peddling dating from his time in office.
2. Amsterdam Court of Appeal ruled that deliverers’ agreement with Deliveroo qualifies as an employment contract.
3. The European Union will take legal action against the UK over its decision to extend the grace period on food controls between Britain and Northern Ireland.
4. Feminists and human rights activists demand that Chief Justice Sharad Bobde of the Supreme Court of India to withdraw his statement on rape remarks and apologize.
5. Justice Lyudmila Khojashvili, 64, was elected on March 1 as the new Abkhaz Constitutional Court chairperson for a three-year term, replacing Nuri Tania.
6. The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, launched the process to select the next Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada to fill one vacancy.
7. President of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, criticized the judiciary and announced the creation of a court to limit the power of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Argentina Nation.
8. The Cuban government passed a long-awaited animal welfare law after decades of ignoring citizens’ demands for animal rights legislation.
9. US Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit upheld school officials’ authority to withhold a 4th grader’s essay supporting LGBTQ rights from a class booklet that was to be sent home to families.

New Scholarship

1. Virgílio Afonso da Silva, Direito Constitucional Brasileiro (2021) (examining Braizilian constitutional law)
2. Karin Lukas, The Revised European Social Charter (2021) (exploring the boundaries of social rights at the European level through the analysis of the Revised European Social Charter, the most comprehensive regional document on social rights)
3. Philipp Dann and Arun Thiruvengadam (eds), Democratic Constitulism in India and the European Union (2021) (comparing the structures and challenges of democratic constitutionalism in India and the European Union)
4. David F. L. Gomes, Constitucionalismo e dependência: em direção a uma Teoria da Constituição como Teoria da Sociedade (2020) (criticizing the sociological deficit in the theory and practice of constitutionl law in contemporary in Brazil)
5. Paul O’Connell and Umut Özsu (eds), Marx and Critical Constitutional Theory (2021) (examining Marx’s critical theory of constitutional law)
6. Giovana de Minico, Oreste Pollicino (eds), Virtual Freedom, Terrorism and the Law (2021) (examining the risks to freedom of expression, particularly in relation to the internet, as a result of regulation introduced in response to terrorist threats)

Calls for Papers and Announcements

1. The Cambridge University Italian Society hosts an online interview with Nadia Urbinati on “Democracy, Populism, and the Post-Pandemic Era,” on March 8, 2021.
2. Kyiv-Mohyla Law and Politics Journal invites submissions to its seventh edition. The deadline for submissions is March 30, 2021.
3. The Contemporary Central and East European Law Journal, published by the Institute of Law Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, invites submissions for its 2nd volume. The deadline for the submission is March 15, 2021.
4. The International Journal of Parliamentary Studies invites submission for its second issue in 2021. The deadline for submissions is April 12, 2021.

Elsewhere Online

1. Kevin Aquillina, Austin Bencini, Giovanni Bonello and Tonio Borg, Undermining the constitution: A bill presented by the government threatens democracy, rule of law, Times Malta
2. Pernille Boye Koch, Harsh immigration policy leads to a historic impeachment trial in Denmark, Verfassungsblog
3. Rui Garrido, Decriminalisation of consensual same-sex acts in Angola and the progress of LGBTI human rights in Lusophone Africa, AfricLaw
4. Karina Nunes Fritz, Juíza do Tribunal Constitucional Alemão fala sobre pandemia e direitos fundamentais, Migalhas
5. Jigar Parmar, What constitutes hate speech? What the South African Constitutional Court decreed in the 2018 Duncanmec case, The Time of India
6. Adam Liptak, Justice Amy Coney Barrett Issues Her First Majority Opinion, The New York Times
7. Massimo Cacciari, The University with Justice Daria de Pretis, Incontri
8. David Sobreira, Constitutional Hardball with Mark Tushnet, Onze Supremos