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 draft of the US Supreme Court majority decision for the upcoming Dobbs case has been leaked. Albeit not final, the draft suggests the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the return of the issue of abortion to state legislatures.
2. Describing it as “a singular and egregious breach of that trust that is an affront to the Court and the community of public servants who work here” the Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court launched an official investigation into the leaking of the Dobbs draft opinion.
3. In light of increasing lawsuits over Nazi reparations Germany took Italy before the International Court of Justice for failing to comply with the Court’s 2012 ruling
4. Germany Federal Constitutional Court struck down several provisions of the “Bavarian Constitutional Protection Law” that provides for penetrating surveillance powers
5. The Armenian Constitutional Court upheld the validity of the National Assembly Speaker election
6. The Romanian Parliament appointed two judges to the Constitutional Court
7. Romania’s Constitutional Court voided a statute abridging lawmakers’“special pension”
8. Nine judges were appointed to the Court of Justice of the European Union
9. The European Court of Human Rights asked the Polish government to provide its observations on 20 new applications concerning the status of judicial independence in the country
10. The Supreme Court of Canada announced the review of the Court of appeal decision that upheld the residency requirement for elected council members of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation

In the News

1. The US President described the US Supreme Court draft for the Dobbs case as a “radical decision” marking a “fundamental shift in American jurisprudence” while threatening “other basic rights”
2. California and Ohio political leaders committed to enshrining abortion rights in state constitutions
3. For the first time since its adoption, the European Commission triggered the rule-of-law conditionality mechanism against Hungary
4. Two associations of French judges wrote a letter to the European Commission President questioning the EU Justice Commissioner’s impartiality in evaluating alleged threats to judicial independence in France
5. Italy’s most representative association of judges and prosecutors deliberated a one-day strike against the ongoing reform of the judiciary
6. In the wake of much-debated resignation of UK judges from the Court of Final Appeal a new system of judicial performance evaluation is introduced in Hong Kong
7. Hungary’s Minister submitted a constitutional bill that would extend the state of emergency mechanism to cases of “armed conflict, war or humanitarian catastrophe in a neighboring country”
8. President of Kazakh proposed a referendum on the decentralizing constitutional reform that would, inter alia, strip his predecessor of immunity privileges

New Scholarship

1. Antonia Baraggia and Matteo Bonelli, Linking Money to Values: The New Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation and Its Constitutional Challenges (2022) (arguing that the debate and modifications to the rule of law conditionality regulation improved the conditionality mechanism and highlighting foreseeable legal issues)
2. Richard Albert, Juliano Benvindo, Milton Jimenez and Cristiãn Villalonga Torrijo, Constitutional Dismemberment in Latin America, 52 Revista Derecho del Estado 97 (2022) (drawing from Latin American jurisdictions to illustrate the phenomenon of constitutional dismemberment and to explore its implications for constitutional democracy)
3. Ramona Coman The Politics of the Rule of Law in the EU Polity Actors, Tools and Challenges (2022) (analyzing rule of law debate in the European Union and the legal tools for its enforcement)
4. Cecilia Rizcallah and Victor Davio The Requirement that Tribunals be Established by Law: A Valuable Principle Safeguarding the Rule of Law and the Separation of Powers in a Context of Trust (2022) (discussing the established-by-law requirement as a legal principle advancing both judicial independence and accountability)
5. Øyvind Stiansen (Non)renewable Terms and Judicial Independence in the European Court of Human Rights (2022) (evaluating the removal of reappointment opportunity for ECtHR judges and arguing that it fosters independence from nominating states)
6. Steven Smith The Constitution, the Leviathan, and the Common Good (forthcoming 2022) (criticizing common good constitutionalism in light of classical legal tradition, the American Constitution, and contemporary constitutional theory)
7. Raymond Byrne Judicial Conduct in Ireland: A Framework Fit for Purpose? The Bangalore Principles And The Judicial Council Act 2019 (2022) (discussing the role of Bangalore Principles and their influence on the Judicial Council Act of 2019)
8. Brian M. Barry Judicial Impartiality in the Judicial Council Act 2019: Challenges and Opportunities (2022) (discussing the notion of judicial impartiality and its enhancement within the framework of the Irish Judicial Council)
9. Marta Cartabia and Nicola Lupo The Constitution of Italy A Contextual Analysis (2022) (providing a comprehensive introduction to the Italian constitutional system and its main institutions)
10. Evelyn Villarreal and Bruce M. Wilson (eds.) El agua como derecho humano: Reconocimientos y disputas en Costa Rica (2022) (discussing access to water and sanitation as a human right in the context of Costa Rica legal system)

Calls for Papers and Announcements

1. The ICON-S CEE Chapter organizes a roundtable discussion of Andras Sajo’s new book titled “Ruling by Cheating: Governance in Illiberal Democracy.” The roundtable takes place on Tuesday, May 10th, 15:00-16:30 CET.
2. WZB Berlin and the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg organize a Workshop and a Conference titled “Solange 50th Anniversary Conference: Constitutionalism beyond the state and the role of domestic constitutional courts” to be held in Berlin on January 12-13, 2023 (Workshop), and on May 30-31, 2024 (Conference). The deadline for submitting abstracts is June 12, 2022.
3. The Nevada Law Journal announced a call for papers for its symposium issue titled “Dark Necessity? The Supreme Court’s Shadow Docket.” The abstract deadline is May 16, 2022.
4. Class Crits calls for papers for its XIII Conference on “Unlocking Inequality: Revisiting the Intersection of Race and Class” to be held on October 21-22, 2022, at the Thurgood Marshall School of Law (Houston). The submission deadline is June 30, 2022.
5. The International Race and Rights Lab calls for abstracts for a Workshop on Race and International Relations to be held at University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs on March 31, 2023. The deadline is December 20, 2022.
6. EULab calls for application to the Summer School on Labour Migration in the European Union to be held in Naples from June 27 to July 7, 2022: the deadline is May 20, 2022. Within the activities of Summer School, EULab also calls for insights for a one-day Young Scholars Workshop to be held in hybrid form: the submission deadline is May 20, 2022.
7. The British Academy with Cara (the Council for At-Risk Academics) established a “Researchers at Risk Fellowships Programme” addressed to researchers who either are still in Ukraine, or left the country in the last five years. The next deadline for applications will be 5:00pm (BST) on Wednesday 1 June 2022. Subsequent deadlines will be Wednesday 29 June and Wednesday 20 July.
8. On May 12-13, 2022, a Global Conference on Parliamentary Studies will be hosted in hybrid form (Budapest and online) at the Department of Constitutional and Comparative Public Law of Ludovika – University of Public Service.
9. Following a Strasbourg Observers symposium on the publication of three books, an online panel on “Minimalism vs. Maximalism? Challenges and Future Directions in the Interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights” will take place on June 8, 2022, at 4 pm (CET), featuring Professor Eva Brems and authors Dr Corina Heri, Dr Jens T. Theilen and Dr Natasa Mavronicola. Registration is available here.

Elsewhere Online

1. Tom Goldstein How the leak might have happened Scotusblog
2. Josh Blackman The Final Epicycle of Roe v. Wade Volokh
3. Mark Movsesian Why the Dobbs Leak Is Dangerous First Things
4. Paul Horwitz Leaks and a Look Backward Prawfsblawg
5. Michael C. Dorf Overruling Roe is Just the Beginning Verdict
6. Colin Harvey Next Chapter, in a Larger Story: The Assembly Election in Northern Ireland Raises Questions About its Constitutional Future Verfassungsblog
7. John Garry The constitutional question in Ireland and Northern Ireland UKICE
8. Thomas Perroud A Male, White and Conservative Constitutional Judge: The Composition of the French Constitutional Council After the New Appointments Verfassungsblog
9. David Kosar and Mathieu Leloup Saying Less is Sometimes More (even in Rule-of-Law Cases): Grzęda v Poland EU Law Live