What’s New in Public Law

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–Wilson Seraine da Silva Neto, Master Student at the University of Coimbra – Portugal; Postgraduate 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 United States Supreme Court has heard arguments on the second amendment case. The justices’ questions suggested that New York’s guns control law is likely to be stricken down.
2. Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled in a majority to maintain Justice Rosa Weber’s decision to veto payments (slush fund) that government officials use with the support of the Bolsonaro administration to attract deputies and senators in key votes.
3. The United States Supreme Court has heard arguments in a case involving three Muslim men from California who accused the FBI of illegally conducting surveillance on them following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
4. The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom blocks U.K. class-action lawsuit against Google on behalf of more than 4m Apple iPhone users over Google’s alleged tracking of personal data.
5. The United States Supreme Court mulled a bid from a Texas death row inmate who is challenging the state’s refusal to allow his pastor to lay hands on him and audibly pray while he is executed.
6. The Supreme Court of India has agreed to hear a plea by journalist Shyam Meera Singh and two others that seeks to quash a Tripura Police FIR under controversial anti-terror law UAPA for social media posts – including Mr Singh’s “Tripura is burning” tweet – made during violence in the state last month.
7. The United States Supreme Court heard arguments on a potential landmark case looking into whether it’s constitutional to deny federal benefits to ageing and disabled U.S. citizens living in Puerto Rico, even though they can access them if they live on the mainland.
8. The Constitutional Court of the Kingdom of Thailand ruled that three activists aimed to overthrow the state and the monarchy in their speeches and ordered them and other parties to end all moves against the highest institution.

In the News

1. Eric Leroy Adams, a former New York City police captain whose attention-grabbing persona and keen focus on racial justice fueled a decades-long career in public life, was elected as the 110th mayor of New York and the second Black mayor in the city’s history.
2. Pablo Escobar’s “cocaine hippos” are considered people, U.S. judge ruled.
3. Colombia’s Constitutional Court rejected the request by former President Alvaro Uribe to revoke his indictment on fraud and bribery charges.
4. The far-right German party AfD takes the Parliament to court over representation in the top-level Presidium of the Bundestag.
5. The Orbán government has lodged a complaint with the Constitutional Court of Hungry against the order of the Kúria refusing to certify a referendum on child protection from the cabinet.
6. The National Assembly appointed Rok Svetlič a judge on the Constitutional Court of Slovenia for a nine-year term in a secret ballot.
7. A Bogota court barred Colombia’s President Ivan Duque from ratifying a controversial constitutional amendment that suspended electoral legislation meant to prevent the use of public funds in election campaigns.

New Scholarship

1. Ryan Goss, What Do Australians Talk About When They Talk About ‘Parliamentary Sovereignty’? (2021) (arguing that references to parliamentary sovereignty and parliamentary supremacy in the Australian context either cannot stand, need not stand, or do not helpfully stand, as efforts to explain Australian public law).
2. Julia M. Puaschunder. Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) Diplomacy: The time has come for a Corporate and Financial Social Justice Great Reset (2021) (examining three trends that have become prevalent in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic: social inequality, economy and clime change).
3. Maartje De Visser, Constitutionalising Cities: Realising Government Agendas or Sites for Denizen Engagement?, in Unlocking the Constitutional Handcuffs on Canadian Cities (forthcoming 2022) (outlining two ideal types for city-empowering constitutional amendments.)
4. Berihun Adugna Gebeye, A Theory of African Constitutionalism (2021) (theorising the development and transformation of African constitutionalism from pre-colonial times to the present with the attendant constitutional designs and practices.)
5. Rosalind Dixon and David Landau, Abusive Constitutional Borrowing (2021) (identifying and examining the phenomenon of abusive constitutional borrowing by judges, lawyers and political actors around the world.)
6. Silvia Suteu, Eternity Clauses in Democratic Constitutionalism (exploring the role of eternity clauses in constitution-making, constitutional adjudication, and constitutional reform.)

Call for Papers and Announcements

1. Institute for Legal Research at University of Coimbra and House-Refuge Project invite submissions to the IV Debate on “Forests and Legislation: The New Integrated Management System for Rural Fire,” which will take place on December 17^th.
2. Verfassungsblog and Völkerrechtsblog call for contributions for a blog symposium and journal special issue on “Comparative Climate Litigation in North-South Perspective. The deadline is November 15^th.
3. Amity Law Review (ALR) invites submissions for its 17th Volume, which will be published in a digital version. The last date of submission is November 30^th.
4. Lucknow Law Review invites submissions for its Volume 1, Issue 3. They publish research articles, long and short, case comments, and book reviews. The deadline for submissions is December 15^th.
5. The Criminal and Constitutional Law Journal invites submissions for its Volume 1 Issue in the form of articles, case comments, or book reviews. The deadline is December 31st.
6. Jean Monnet Chair in Law and Transatlantic Relations, Institute for the Study of European Law (ISEL) and International Law and Global Affairs (ILAG) invite to the lecture “Transatlantic Perspectives on Populism: ‘Bugaric & Tushnet’s ‘Power to the People’” on November 24^th.

Elsewhere Online

1. Interview with Professor Kasim Trnka, The OHR and the BiH Constitutional Court are the Safeguards of the State, Sarajevo Times.
2. Who are the most cited Brazilians in Law on Academic Google, Conjur.
3. Paulo Iotti, STF acerta ao reconhecer a injúria racial como crime de racismo, Migalhas.
4. Imelda B Deinla, Women Judges and the Rise and Fall of Philippine Democracy, IACL-AIDC Blog.
5. Anna Dziedzic, Women Judges, Local Judges, Foreign Judges: Methods of Collecting and Analysing Data on Gender and Pacific Judiciaries, IACL-AIDC Blog.