What’s New in Public Law

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—Robert Rybski, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw, Rector’s Plenipotentiary for Environment and Sustainable Development

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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 European Court of Human Rights unanimously ruled that three judges of the Polish Constitutional Court had been appointed in December 2015 to seats already legally filled.
2. The High Court of Kenya ruled on the Constitutional Amendment (2020) Bill (BBI-Building Bridges Initiative), stating that the BBI constitutional committee was illegal.
3. The Constitutional Court of Guatemala backed controversial legislation targeting NGOs.
4. The Constitutional Court of Taiwan upheld provisions that restrict hunting by indigenous communities stating that indigenous hunting culture had to be balanced against the need to protect the environment and wildlife.
5. Premises of one the former head of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine whose appointment was annulled by the Ukrainian President were searched by law enforcement.

In the News

1. The Government of Germany follows last week’s judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court and proposes increased GHG emissions reductions.
2. Chileans voted this weekend (15-16 May) to select 155 representatives to write a new constitution.
3. “Ensemble pour le climat” marches in French cities. 115.000 participants gathered to challenge the recently adopted government’s climate bill because it is not ambitious enough to tackle climate change.
4. The Constitution Commission of Belarus continues its work on drafting a new Constitution.
5. Fate of the referendum on the inclusion of environmental preservation into Article 1 of the French Constitution is still uncertain.
6. After Hamas rockets started mass rocket attack on Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Israel may face civil war as tensions within the society rise.          
7. The International Criminal Court warns against crimes in the new Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

New Scholarship

1. Richard Albert and Yaniv Roznai, Emergency Unamendability: Limitations on Constitutional Amendment in Extreme Conditions, 81 Maryland Law Review (forthcoming 2021) (tracing the origins of limitations on amendment during emergencies, outlining their causes and origins, and proposing alternative design strategies that can frustrate—though never quite prevent—the exercise of amendment power in emergencies)
2. Angela M. Paez and Catalina Vallejo Piedrahita, Channeling Water Conflicts through the Legislative Branch in Colombia, Water 2021, Special Issue The Politics of the Human Right to Water (examining the role of the Colombian Congress in addressing relevant water conflicts and making them visible)           
3. Jorge Contesse, The Rule of Advice in International Human Rights Law, American Journal of International Law (forthcoming 2021) (introducing two conceptual models of advisory jurisdiction and examining the advisory practice of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights)
4. Yvonne Boyer and Larry Chartrand (eds.) Bead by Bead: Constitutional Rights and Metis Community (2021) (exploring rights of Metis, one of the Aboriginal peoples in Canada whose existing treaty and Aboriginal rights are recognized in the constitution)
5. Adetoun T. Adebanjo, In search of a middle ground. Addressing cultural and religious influences on the criminalization of homosexuality in Nigeria, in Ebenezer Durojaye, Gladys Mirugi-Mukundi, Charles Ngwena (eds.) Advancing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Africa. Constraints and Opportunities (2021) (examining relevant provisions of Nigerian law which had criminalized homosexuality long before the introduction of the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act of 2013 and argue that these laws contradict provisions of the Nigerian Constitution and principles of fundamental human rights)
6. Geoffrey S. Corn, Jimmy Gurule, Jeffrey Kahn, Gary Corn, National Security Law and the Constitution (2021) (providing a comprehensive examination and analysis of the inherent tension between the Constitution and select national security policies, and explores the multiple dimensions of that conflict).

Calls for Papers and Announcements

1. Save the date for the World Congress of Constitutional Law in South Africa scheduled for December 5-9, 2022.
2. Loyola University Chicago School of Law and George Washington University Law School invite submissions for its “Twelfth Annual Constitutional Law Colloquium”, scheduled for November 12-13, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (USA). The deadline for submissions is June 21, 2021.
3. The International Forum of the Faculty of Law at the University of Ljubljana invites to attend the discussion between the President of the Court of Justice of the European Union (Professor Koen Lenaerts) and the President of the European Court on Human Rights (Professor Robert Spano) on Challenges and Perspectives of the Highest European Courts, scheduled for May 27, 2021. The deadline for registration is May 21, 2021.
4. The University of Trento invites to webinar “The Legitimacy of European Constitutional Orders. Questioning the Revolutionary, Establishment and Elite Pathways”, scheduled for May 24-28, 2021.
5. The University of the Basque Country – EHU/UPV welcomes applicants for its online course on “Gender Violence from a Multidisciplinary Perspective.” The course will be taught in Spanish and will offer comparative perspectives drawing from the European and Latin American experience.
6. The Criminal and Constitutional Law Journal (CCLJ) invites submissions for its first volume. The deadline for submission is June 15, 2021.

Elsewhere Online

1. Felix Ekardt, Climate Revolution with Weaknesses, Verfassungsblog
2. David R. Cameron, SNP falls short of a majority in Scottish election but aiming for independence referendum, Yale MacMillan Center
3. Marcin Szwed, What Should and What Will Happen After Xero Flor, Verfassungsblog
4. Sergio Verdugo, Moderated Parliamentarism, Effective Governments and Legislative Gridlock, IACL-AIDC Blog
5. Oreste Pollicino, Giovanni De Gregorio, Marco Bassini, Trump’s Indefinite Ban Shifting the Facebook Oversight Board away from the First Amendment Doctrine, Verfassungsblog
6. Sergei Belov, The Content of the 2020 Constitutional Amendments in Russia, IACL-AIDC Blog
7. Radosveta Vassileva, Short but Sweet Bulgaria’s Short-Lived 45th National Assembly as a First Step towards Reforms, Verfassungsblog
8. Joel I. Colón-Ríos, Scholars and the Politics of Puerto Rico’s Constitutional Status, IACL-AIDC Blog