What’s New in Public Law

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–Silvio Roberto Vinceti, Adjunct Lecturer, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia

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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 International Court of Justice is scheduled to hold hearings on the adoption of provisional measures against Russia on March 7 and 8
2. The International Court of Justice Chief Prosecutor announced a probe into possible war crimes committed on Ukraine soil
3. The European Court of Human Rights granted interim measures intimating Russia to refrain from military attacks against civilians and civilian objects
4. A splintered United States Supreme Court reversed an appellate decision denying use of state secrets privilege against discovery requests of a now Guantánamo detainee that was subjected to “enhanced interrogation techniques”
5. Georgia Constitutional Court refused to suspend controversial legislation dissolving independent authority monitoring state officials’ offenses
6. Belgium’s Human Rights League appealed to the Constitutional Court to void pandemic law
7. Israeli High Court of Justice ruled that four Palestinian families cannot be evicted until the Minister of Justice settles land ownership dispute
8. The Constitutional Court of Colombia ruled that citizens should be able to have their gender registered as non-binary
9. The Italian Constitutional Courts published the decisions thwarting referendums on civil liability of judges, consensual homicide, and soft drugs

In the News

1. The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly voted to condemn Russia and demand that troops be pulled from Ukraine
2. The Council of Europe suspended Russian Federation from its rights of representation in the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly as a result of Russia’s armed attack on Ukraine
3. The European Commission published the Guidelines on the application of the conditionality regulation
4. Turkish opposition parties coalesced in a bid to defeat President Tayyip Erdogan and restore rule of law
5. After a new round of allegations against Guatemalan President anti-corruption prosecutors have either resigned, fled the country, or have been arrested
6. Several legal organizations in South Africa urged the Judicial Service Commission to adopt a code of conduct and new appointment criteria before continuing its work
7. President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech addressed the situation in Ukraine, inflation, and pandemic economic recovery, invoking a “Unity Agenda for the nation”
8. Hearings for Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson are expected to start on March 21
9. Iowa became the eleventh American State barring transgender athletes from female sports

New Scholarship

1. Ramon Feldbrin and Barry Sullivan, The Supreme Court and the People: Communicating Decisions to the Public (2022) (claiming that US Supreme Court should take inspiration from other Constitutional Courts and make its decisions more accessible to the general public)
2. Gary Lawson and Guy Seidman, Are People in Federal Territories Part of “We the People of the United States”? (forthcoming 2022) (discussing evidence on, and fiduciary implications of, including territorial inhabitants in the notion of “We the People of the United States”)
3. Conor Casey and Adrian Vermeule, Myths of Common Good Constitutionalism (2022) (addressing misrepresentations of common good constitutionalism)
4. Eoin Daly, Popular Sovereignty After Brexit (2022) (disputing the claim that lack of stronger “legal institutionalization” of popular sovereignty had a significant role in Brexit political crisis)
5. Jan Komárek, Freedom and Power of European Constitutional Scholarship (2021) (addressing the interplay between legal scholarship as objective science and constitutional scholars’ political engagement, and the effects on academic freedom)
6. Anne Carter, Proportionality and Facts in Constitutional Adjudication (2022) (discussing proportionality as a fact-finding test in comparative constitutional adjudication and particularly its use in Australian constitutional law) [Discount Price – use the code GLR A6AUK for UK orders and GLR A6AUS for US orders to get 20% off]
7. Paolo Sandro, The Making of Constitutional Democracy. From Creation to Application of Law (2022) (defending the distinction between creation and application of the law and stressing its salience for constitutional democracy) [Discount Price – use the code GLR A6AUK for UK orders and GLR A6AUS for US orders to get 20% off]
8. Laura Cahillane and David Kenny, Lessons from Ireland’s Judicial Conduct Controversy (forthcoming 2021) (describing the debate over judicial conduct in Ireland, the establishment of the Judicial Council Act and constitutional status of the golf-gate controversy)
9. Katarína Šipulová, Samuel Spáč, David Kosař, Tereza Papoušková, and Viktor Derka, Judicial Self-Governance Index: Towards better understanding of the role of judges in governing the judiciary (2022) (proposing an innovative index for measuring judicial self-governance and claiming that the judicial council model is not a necessary avenue to judicial empowerment)

Calls for Papers and Announcements

1. The Max Planck Foundation for International Peace and Rule of Law calls for submissions for articles to be published in Volume 26 of the Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law (UNYB). Abstract deadline is April 15, 2022.
2. The International Association of Constitutional Law invites submissions for the conference “Political Sentiments and Moral Emotions in Constitutional Law” to be held at the Facultad de Derecho UNC in Cordoba (Argentina) on August 9-10, 2022. Abstract Deadline on May 1, 2022.
3. The International Association of Constitutional Law invites abstracts for its second online Junior Scholars Forum to be hosted at the UNAM Institute for Legal Research and the uOttawa Public Law Centre on September 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 2022. Submission is due by April 1, 2022.
4. The Institute for Comparative Federalism at EURAC Research (South Tyrol) invites applications to a full-time researcher position. Interested candidates should submit their applications by March 20, 2022.
5. The Institute for Comparative Federalism is going to host an online “Marie Skłodowska-Curie Week” from May 23 to 27, 2022. Prospective applicants for an MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship at EURAC Research will be accompanied in shaping their fellowship proposal. The application deadline is April 3, 2022.
6. ICON-S Italian chapter calls for papers and panels for its annual meeting to be held in Bologna on September 16-17, 2022. This year theme is “The Future of the State.” Abstracts are due by June 1, 2022.
7. Registration is now open for the International Forum on the Future of Constitutionalism’s Advanced Research Seminar in Constitutional Change.
8. Oxford Programme in Asian Laws announced a workshop on “Political Parties & Constitutions in Asia” to be held in Oxford on September 23-24, 2022. Paper proposals should be submitted by April 1, 2022.
9. By April 1, 2022, IPSA Comparative Judicial Studies Committee will publish its draft program for the conference “Courts under Pressure: Threats to Judicial Independence and Rule of Law across the Globe” to be held at the Mortara Center for International Studies (Georgetown University) on August 10-12, 2022.
10. The Italian Association of Constitutionalists (AIC) issued a statement condemning the war in Ukraine.
11. On behalf of the German Society of International Law Prof. Dr. Anne Peters published a statement decrying Russia’s violation of international law.

Elsewhere Online

1. Päivi Leino-Sandberg and Hanna Ojanen, Time for Military Integration in the EU?: Armed aggression and the scope of Article 42 TEU, Verfassungsblog
2. Ralph Janik, Putin’s War against Ukraine: Mocking International Law, EJIL: Talk!
3. Oona Hathaway, Scott Shapiro,  Putin Can’t Destroy the International Order by Himself, Lawfare
4. Michael Ramsey, Using Force in Ukraine Requires Congress’ Approval, Originalism Blog
5. Andrew Koppelman, Ketanji Brown Jackson and the job of a public defender, The Hill
6. Jonathan H. Adler, When Ketanji Brown Jackson Represented the Cato Institute, The Volokh Conspiracy
7. Eric Segall, Of Originalism, Political Polarization, Tolerance, and the Importance of Talking to the Other Side, Dorf On Law
8. Diana Dimitrova, Ekimdzhiev and others v. Bulgaria: Secret Surveillance and Electronic Communications Surveillance only with Adequate Safeguards, or Nothing New under the Sun, Strasbourg Observer