—Bárbara da Rosa Lazarotto, Master Student at the University of Minho – Portugal; Researcher at the International Legal Research Group on Human Rights and Technology of the European Law Students Association – ELSA.
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 US Supreme Court declined to block a vaccine requirement imposed on Maine health care workers.
2. The European Court of Human Rights condemned a Turkish law that bans insults against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The Court issued this opinion in a case of a man who was convicted of publishing two caricatures of the Turkish President on Facebook.
3. The French Constitutional Court rejected to review a French law that transposed the Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement and Directive 2001/51. The Court ruled that it is not competent to conduct such a review.
In the News
1. The head of the European Council Ursula von der Leyen said that the recent ruling by Poland’s Supreme Court is a direct challenge to the unity of the bloc.
2. The Portuguese Parliament elected on October 1st four new judges for the Constitutional Court of Portugal that will substitute four justices whose mandates ended in June.
3. The US Justice Department formally asked the Supreme Court to block the controversial Texas law that banned abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
4. A coalition of NGO’s and indigenous organizations challenged a presidential act at the Constitutional Court of Ecuador, which aims to double petrol production in the country, arguing that this act violates international rights of indigenous people to previous consultation and other collective rights.
5. The President of Ecuador declared a state of emergency for 60 days in the whole country due to extreme violence enacted by drug dealers.
6. The United Kingdom justice secretary Dominic Raab stated that the UK plans to create a mechanism to “correct” judgments issued by the European Court of Human Rights.
7. A report released by the Brazilian Senate Committee has recommended that President Jair Bolsonaro be indicted on ten charges, including crimes against humanity.
8. The Senate of Brazil approved a constitutional amendment that codifies the fundamental right to the protection of personal data.
New Scholarship
1. Raphaël Girard, Accountability, Populism and Expertise: The UK Government’s Response to Covid-19, Public Law 4 (2021) (questioning the perceived or assumed dichotomy between populism and expertise in a case study of the UK government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic).
2. The Revista Derecho del Estado issued its special number in tribute to Roberto Gargarella, discussing the “XXII Jornadas de Derecho Constitucional” it is on open access.
3. Ronald M. Levin, The Evolving APA and the Originalist Challenge, 97 Chicago-Kent Law Review 1 (2021) (examining the manifold ways courts have creatively interpreted the APA’s provisions on rulemaking, adjudication, and judicial review).
4. Dan Yosipovitch, Adopting a Legislative Approach for Data in the Fourth Amendment: Defining Personal Data as An “Effect” (2021) (addressing the need to recognize a property-based right in personal data and to limit the amount of personal information that can be lawfully collected about individuals online).
Calls for Papers and Announcements
1. The Asser Institute invites abstracts to the topic “Law and ethics of artificial intelligence in the public sector: From principles to practice and policy” for an interdisciplinary conference that will take place on 10-11 March 2022 at the Asser Institute in The Hague.
2. The University of Externado of Colombia announces its XXII Journey of Constitutional Law, which will take place on 21-22 of October in Bogotá. Applications can be made here.
3. The Instituto Iberoamericano de Derecho Constitucional opens call for papers for the Revista de Derecho Constitutional n. º 3. Deadline for submissions is 20 November 2021.
4. The 10th Edition of Privacy Camp is open for panels. It will be about ways to advance human rights in the digital society. The deadline for proposal submissions is 7 November 2021.
5. The Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law (RGNUL) invites papers for Volume 1 & 2, 2021 of RGNUL Law Review. The deadline for submissions is 30 November 2021.
6. The Journal of Islamic Law at Harvard Law School accepts papers on racial justice and equality. The deadline for submissions is 1 November 2021.
Elsewhere Online
1. Lidia Dutkiewicz, From the DSA to Media Data Space: the possible solutions for the access to platforms’ data to tackle disinformation, European Law Blog
2. Joel Reardon, Emily Laidlaw and Greg Hagen, COVID-19 and Cellphone Surveillance, Double Aspect
3. Dinesha Samarantne, Comparative Constitutional Law, Colonialism and Empire (Part I), IACL-AIDC Blog
4. Marcus, Klamert, Rationalizing Supremacy, Verfassungsblog
5. Alex Walker, The draft Online Safety Bill: abandoning democracy to disinformation, The Constitution Unit Blog
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