What’s New in Public Law

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—Maja Sahadžić, Visiting Professor and Research Fellow (University of Antwerp) and Senior Research Fellow (Law Institute in Sarajevo)

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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 Constitutional Court of Poland postponed the decision on the EU conditionality mechanism.
2. The Constitutional Court of Kuwait struck down a contentious law long used to criminalize transgender people.
3. The Constitutional Court of Croatia rejected an application by opposition Members of Parliament and proposals by other applicants who claimed that introducing COVID certificates in the public sector was unconstitutional and unlawful.
4. The Constitutional Court of Albania overturned the parliament’s impeachment of the Albanian president.
5. The Constitutional Court of Italy rejected the referendum request on euthanasia.

In the News

1. Egyptian President appointed a Coptic Christian as President of the Supreme Constitutional Court for the first time.
2. The European Court of Justice rejected the Polish and Hungarian rule-of-law challenge.
3. New Zealand’s parliament passed legislation that bans conversion therapy.
4. The European Court for Human Rights ruled that Croatia has a right to secrecy related to the former Croatian president documents citing national security reasons.
5. Canadian Prime Minister invoked the Emergencies Act to give the federal government additional powers to quell the “Freedom Convoy” protests.
6. The Prime Minister of Pakistan denounced lynching following Qur’an burning.

New Scholarship

1. Kevin YL Tan and Michael Ng (eds.), Constitutional Foundings in Northeast Asia (2021) (examining the drafting, nature, core values, and roles of the first modern constitutions during the founding of the eight modern states/territories in Northeast Asia: China, Taiwan, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, and Mongolia.
2. Paul Gowder, The Rule of Law in the United States, An Unfinished Project of Black Liberation (2021) (tracing the promise and paradox of the American rule of law in three interwoven ways: explaining the ideals of the American rule of law, considering the constitutional institutions as inextricable from the problem of race in the United States and the tensions between the rule of law as a protector of property rights and the rule of law as a restrictor on arbitrary power and a guarantor of legal equality, and considering the extent to which the American rule of law is compromised at its frontiers, and the extent that those compromises undermine legal protections Americans enjoy in the interior).
3. Adebayo O. Adedeji, Federalism, political culture and the Question of Remaking Nigeria 13(1) Perspectives on Federalism (examining the concept of federal political culture and its effect on the practice of federalism in the country).
4. André Härtel, EU Actorness in the Conflict in Ukraine: Between ‘Comprehensive’ Ambitions and the Contradictory Realities of an Enlarged ‘Technical’ Role Ethnopolitics (analyzing the EU’s contribution to conflict management in Ukraine since 2014 and for its respective development as a foreign policy actor).
5. Jeetendra Khadan, Ethnic Cleavages and Vote Choice in Trinidad and Tobago Ethnopolitics (exploring the importance of ethnic cleavages in voting patterns in Trinidad and Tobago).
6. Jessika Eichler, Disentangling the Vernacular in Bolivia and Decolonising the Law, Epistemological-Legal Perspectives on the Encounters between Indigenous Peoples and the State International Journal on Minority and Group Rights (exploring ‘epistemological oppression’ and ‘epistemological hesitance’ as it arises and is being responded to in the vernacular, in empirical realities, in constitutional law and its principles, and in international legal orders including indigenous peoples’ rights regimes).

Calls for Papers and Announcements

1. The University of Portsmouth and the EUI organize the conference „Surveillance, democracy and the rule of law“ held in Florence on 9-10 June 2022. The deadline for submission of abstracts is 28 February 2022.
2. Bio Forensics Research Center Italy and the School of Law of Manipal University Jaipur invite researchers to join the 2nd International Multidisciplinary Conference “Law and Forensic Science: a global challenge” to be held in Rome and Online on 17-19 May 2022. The deadline for submission is 30 April 2022.
3. British Academy of Forensic Sciences organizes the „International Conference: Neuroscience and the Law“ to be held in London on 14 May 2022. The deadline for registrations is 7 May 2022.
4. Centre for Asian Legal Studies at the National University of Singapore calls for applications for the TRIALS Workshops „Training Initiative for Asian Law and Society Scholars“ to be held in Singapore. The deadline for applications is 28 February 2022.
5. The Dickson Poon School Of Law at King’s College London organizes an academic workshop „The Future of Legal Gender and the Challenge of Prefigurative Law Reform“ to be held Online on 9 March 2022.
6. UCL Centre For Law And Environment organizes the conference „Climate Change and the Rule of Law“ to be held in London on 31 March and 1 April.

Elsewhere Online

1. Elisabeth Alber, Federalism Studies and Federal Scholars in Dialogue, Eureka!
2. Francisco Javier Romero Caro, Federal loyalty and superheroes: a fairy-tale without a happy ending, Eureka!
3. Jordi Argelaguet, The controversy over language in Catalan schools heats up, Centre on Constitutional Change
4. Ilyas Yesdauletov, The territorial dimension of Kazakhstan’s protests, Centre on Constitutional Change
5. Oliver Garner and Tom West, Brexit ‘Freedoms’, Risks and Opportunities? Certainty and uncertainty in the revision of retained EU Law, UK Constitutional Law Blog
6. Aradhya Sethiya, The party has just begun: The Party Leader and the UK constitution, UK Constitutional Law Blog
7. Daniel Halberstam and Werner Schroeder, In Defense of Its Identity, A Proposal to Mainstream the Rule of Law in the EU, Verfassungsblog
8. Nico Roman Weber, Hegel on Anti-Vaxxers and Making Peace with the Law, Why We Need Politicians, not Conscientious Decision-Makers, Verfassungsblog