What’s New in Public Law

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—Robert Rybski, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw, Rector’s Plenipotentiary for Environment and Sustainable Development.

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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 Supreme Court of the United States of America overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade judgment. 
2. The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared as null and void the establishment of an army, exit from the taxation system, and establishment of the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors at the level of Republika Srpska.
3. The Supreme Court of the United States of America reduced the power to regulate GHG emissions by the federal agency (Environmental Protection Agency).
4. The Constitutional Court of South Africa provided legal recognition to Muslim women married under Sharia law and their children.
5. Ketanji Brown Jackson became the 104th associate justice of the Supreme Court, the first Black woman to serve on the high court, and the fifth woman justice.
6. The Supreme Court of the United States of America, in its 5-4 ruling, backed President Biden’s order to end the “Remain in Mexico” policy.
7. The Supreme Court of the United States of America barred lawsuits against police for using evidence obtained without advising people with ‘Miranda warnings’.

In the News

1. G7 leaders condemned the Russian missile attack on civilians in a shopping mall in Kremenchuk as a war crime.
2. Neutral Sweden and Finland join NATO in response to Russian aggression on Ukraine.
3. New York State moves to add reproductive rights to its Constitution.
4. Tunisian president presented his draft of a new constitution.
5. The Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe will determine whether adultery laws are consistent with the Constitution.
6. Limiting the terms of The Supreme Court of the United States of America justices becomes new momentum.
7. Bosnian Serb Leader intends not to respect the ruling of The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
8. The President of Uzbekistan withdrew from the constitutional reform to eliminate Karakalpakstan’s Autonomous Republic right to seek independence from Uzbekistan.
9. Chile’s constitutional assembly finalized the draft of the new constitution.

New Scholarship

1. Laurent Pech, The Rule of Law as a Well-Established and Well-Defined Principle of EU Law, Hague Journal on the Rule of Law 2022 (exploring routes of the rule of law in EU law in the context of allegations of two EU governments that the rule of law is neither defined in EU law nor could it be defined in EU law)
2. Osayd Awawda, The Palestinian Constitutional Court: An Assessment of Its Independence under the Emergency Regime, Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2022 (assessing the legal and practical independence of the Palestinian Constitutional Court since the coup in July 2007 as well as offering a case study on how constitutional courts in authoritarian regimes fail to fulfil, and even obstruct, the promises of rights protections contained in constitutional texts)
3. Priam Rangiah, COVID Travel Bans, Citizenship and the Constitution: Do Australian Citizens Have a Constitutional Right of Abode?, Federal Law Review June 2022 (exploring words ‘the people’ of the States and of the Commonwealth in the Australian Constitution and further analysing what rights or freedoms membership of ‘the people’ entails)
4. Aldona Domańska, Constitutionality of Restrictions on Freedom of Assembly during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Poland, Bialystok Legal Studies 2022 vol. 27 No 2, pp. 147-161 (analysing whether the ban on the organization of and participation in assemblies was introduced with a proper legal basis and its further consequences)
5. Surabhi Chopra, Eva Pils, The Hong Kong National Security Law and the Struggle over Rule of Law and Democracy in Hong Kong, Federal Law Review June 2022 (examining the controversial national security law enacted by the People’s Republic of China for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in June 2020 and analysing how this law interacts with two constitutional struggles that Hong Kong has experienced since its return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997)
6. Mariusz Jabłoński, Dominika Kuźnicka-Błaszkowska, Limiting the Right of Access to Public Information in the Age of COVID-19 – Case Study of Poland, Bialystok Legal Studies 2022 vol. 27 No 2, pp. 207-221 (analysing whether the functioning of the state in the epidemic regime justified the need to limit the constitutional right of access to public information)
7. Cesare Augusto Placanica, Principle of rule of law and Constitutional Reforms in Poland on the structure of the Judicial Power, Peace Human Rights Governance 2022 vol. 6, issue 1, pp. 67-78 (illustrating a series of judicial reforms that started in 2016 along with their reception by European Court of Human Rights and the Venice Commission)
8. Radosław Grabowski, Sabina Grabowska, The Election for the Office of the President of the Republic of Poland on 10 May 2020 during the COVID-19 Pandemic – A Case Study, Bialystok Legal Studies 2022 vol. 27 No 2, pp. 193-205 (describing the case of the presidential elections in Poland in 2020 and analyses what gaps in provisions regulating the rules of these elections were revealed by the pandemic)
9. Nancy L. Zisk, The Road Map to Attaining Diversity in the Workplace: How Race-Conscious Admissions Programs in Education Can Lead The Way, San Diego Law Review vol. 59, pp. 325-340 2022 (examining the tension between the goal of achieving diversity in United States’ classrooms and workplaces in light of the limitations placed on the consideration of a person’s race, color, gender, or ethnicity and the differences in the law that control employment and education)
10. Aleksandra Syryt, Bogusław Przywora, Karol Dobrzeniecki, Freedom of Assembly in the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Limits of its Restraints in the Context of the Experiences of the Republic of Poland and the United States of America, Bialystok Legal Studies 2022 vol. 27 No 2, pp. 55-73 (illustrating the problem of freedom of assembly during the COVID-19 pandemic against the background of the experiences of the Republic of Poland and the United States of America)
11. Agnieszka Kamińska, Profiles of Potential Unconstitutionality of Legislation Restricting Personal Freedom for the Containment of COVID-19 on the Example of the Italian Republic, Bialystok Legal Studies 2022 vol. 27 No 2, pp. 125-145 (analysing key issues raised by the Italian government’s measures to the coronavirus, including the notion of emergency in Italian constitutional law, the legal forms chosen to fight the virus, the role of decree-law, and others)
12. Anupama Roy, Constitutional moments and resurgent citizenship, Citizenship Studies (analysing contests over citizenship in the contemporary world and whether those may be construed in terms of a constitutional moment)
13. Agnė Juškevičiūtė-Vilienė, The Coronavirus Pandemic and the Right to Vote in Lithuania, Bialystok Legal Studies 2022 vol. 27 No 2, pp. 111-123 (describing the special legal regimes that were introduced in Lithuania which dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic and analyses how the right to vote was ensured during the 2020 Parliament elections)
14. Alena Krunková, Gabriela Dobrovičová, Political Rights during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Slovak Republic, Bialystok Legal Studies 2022 vol. 27 No 2, pp. 91-109 (describing the limits to the exercise of political rights in Slovakia under extraordinary circumstances related to the global COVID-19 pandemic)

Calls for Papers and Announcements

1. The Chair of Human Rights and Politics at ELTE University, Faculty of Social Sciences, invites applications for a one two-year or two one-year Postdoctoral Researcher position(s) with a start date of 1st October 2022. The research will be conducted within the ERC-funded project CIVILSPACE.
2. Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia invites to the 5th Indonesian Constitutional Court International Symposium, which will take place in Bali, Indonesia on 5-7 October 2022. The organizers welcome full papers submission by 5 August 2022 with the theme “Constitutional Court and Conflict Resolution”. Selected speakers will be fully funded to attend and present their papers at this symposium.
3. Swiss Institute for Feminist and Gender Law Studies (FRI) calls for proposals for the Gender Law Conference “In-corpore: what the law does to our bodies” which will be held on 9-10 February 2023 at the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland). Interested parties should submit abstracts of no more than 500 characters by 14 October 2022 by sending an email to fri.conference@genderlaw.ch
4. The Centre for Asian Legal Studies at the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law calls for papers for the 3rd Asian Law Junior Faculty Workshop (AsLJFW) to be held from 26-27 January 2023. The deadline for abstract submission is 15 July 2022.
5. EUFutures Research Network organizes its formal launch on 4^th November 2022 at City University, London. Organizers welcome paper proposals that focus on EU law from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds, e.g., law, economics, sociology, political science, history, or papers based on an interdisciplinary approach. Paper proposals of 300-500 words are invited from scholars at all stages of their careers. Proposals must be submitted by 29 July 2022 to eufuturesnetwork@gmail.com

Elsewhere Online

1. Nikos Skoutaris, Scottish Indyref 2, Verfassungsblog
2. Mariana Velasco-River, When Judges Threaten Constitutional Governance: Evidence from Mexico, IACL-Blog
3. Tomasz Tadeusz Koncewicz, The Core of the European Public Space, Verfassungsblog
4. Nathalie Des Rosiers, The Constitutional Way to Divide a Country, IACL-Blog
5. Martin Gronemann, Trumping International Investment Law. Is the tide turning for intra-EU investment disputes?, Verfassungsblog
6. Kosha Doshi, Naga Sumalika Rangisetti, Rainbow families: pioneering ruling on legal recognition to same sex parentage across all EU Member States, Official Blog UNIO
7. D. Sagatiene, A. Wójcik, P. Rhein-Fischer, Governing the Memory of the Present. Banning Russian War Symbols in Lithaunia, Germany and Poland, Verfassungsblog
8. Ximena Casas, How Colombia Could Inspire the Fight for Abortion Rights in the US, Human Rights Watch
9. Marta Pardavi, Bernhard Knoll-Tudor, Europe Needs a Civil Society Strategy, Verfassungsblog
10. Peter Canellos, When the Supreme Court Makes a Mistake, Politico
11. T. Zandstra, E. Brouwer, Fundamental Rights and the Digital Border. ETIAS, the Right to Data Protection, and the CJEU’s PNR judgment, Verfassungsblog
12. James B. Stewart, Did the Supreme Court Open the Door to Reviving One of Its Worst Decisions?, New York Times
13. Munkhnaran Bayarlkhagva, New Constitutional Amendments in Mongolia: Real Reform or Political Opportunism?, The Diplomat