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 US Supreme Court ruled that a public school employee’s prayer during school sports activities is protected speech the public school cannot prohibit, since “the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment protect an individual engaging in a personal religious observance from government reprisal.”
2. The European Court of Human Rights condemned the actions of the Greek government in connection to the sinking of a migrant boat.
3. Slovenia Constitutional Court legalized same-sex marriages and adoptions
4. The Italian Constitutional Court upheld the government’s decision to bar parapharmacies from delivering antibody serology tests and rapid antigen tests.
5. The Israeli High Court of Justice overturned a policy capping the number of Ukrainian refugees allowed to enter Israel.
6. Bosnia Constitutional Court suspended the Republika Srpska’s Law on Medicines which is part of the controversial Declaration on Constitutional Principles of the Serb-majority entity.

In the News

1. Japan’s longest-serving prime minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated.
2. Boris Johnson announced his resignation as party leader thus opening the way for the nomination of a new Prime Minister.
3. Constitutional scholar and head of Tunisia’s Constitution committee Sadeq Belaid disavowed the new constitution draft.
4. Chile’s Constitutional Convention presented the constitution draft to President
5. South Korea Constitutional Court is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the petition filed by Catholic Bishops for the abolition of the death penalty
6. Sinn Fein lodged a motion of no confidence in the Irish Government after the ruling coalition lost the formal majority in Parliament
7. The European Parliament rejected a motion of veto on the new classification system that adds some types of nuclear activity to the list of environmentally sustainable activities.

New Scholarship

1. Ramona Coman, Antagonistic understandings of sovereignty in the 2015 Polish constitutional crisis (2022) (framing the Polish constitutional controversy as a struggle between opposing understandings of sovereignty)
2. Surabhi Chopra & Eva Pils, The Hong Kong National Security Law and the Struggle over Rule of Law and Democracy in Hong Kong (2022) (describing various ways in which the Hong Kong National Security Law will impair rule of law in the country)
3. Thomas Ward Frampton, The Dangerous Few: Taking Seriously Prison Abolition and Its Skeptics (2022) (addressing several skeptical stances against prison abolition)
4. Richard Ekins, The Constitutional Dynamics of Brexit (2022) (offering an in-depth assessment of the events and constitutional issues involved in Brexit)
5. Francesco Contini & Dory Reiling Double normalization: When procedural law is made digital (2022) (arguing that e-justice platforms outperform legal constraints and make judicial procedures more predictable and homogeneous)
6. David Albert Jones, Laura Palazzani, Franz-Josef Bormann & Stefan Hofmann Legal Challenges to Restrictions on Assistance in Suicide in Italy, Germany and Austria: An Ethico-Legal Analysis (2022) (comparing rulings that struck down statutes prohibiting assisted suicide in different jurisdictions)
7. Michael P. Foran & Conor Casey, Constitutionalism and the Common Good: On the Role of Unwritten Principles (forthcoming 2023) (matching debates over unwritten constitutional principles in Canada with the theoretical debate over common good constitutionalism)
8. Domenico Amirante & Silvia Bagni (eds.) Environmental Constitutionalism in the Anthropocene Values, Principles and Actions (2022) (exploring several roles for the law and legal institutions in the epoch of Anthropocene)

Calls for Papers and Announcements

1. The University of Palermo Ph.D. School in Human Rights: Evolution, Protection announces a workshop for Ph.D. students and young researchers on the topic “Human Rights and Democracy” to be held in Palermo (Italy) and online on December 12-14, 2022. Abstracts of no more than 500 words are due by July 31, 2022.
2. The European Papers Jean Monnet Network (EP-JMN) welcomes proposals for the upcoming conference themed “Are the EU Member States Still Sovereign States Under International Law?” to be held at the Sapienza University of Rome on December 15th and 16th, 2022. Interested scholars should submit an English abstract (700-1.200 words) by September 5, 2022.
3. The University of Pisa and Scuola Normale Superiore call for contributions to the conference “Past and Present: Why Rosa Luxemburg now?” on January 24-26, 2023. Prospective contributors should send a short abstract (300 words) and a short bio note (150 words) by September 15, 2022.
4. The Rural Reconciliation Project at the University of Nebraska College of Law and the University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law will host a Law and Rurality Workshop to be held in person in Lincoln (Nebraska), on October 21, 2022. Abstracts are due by August 22, 2022.
5. TheUniversity of New Hampshire Law Review and the Warren B. Rudman Center for Justice, Leadership & Public Service seek proposals for the annual Symposium, which will be held on October 7, 2022. This year’s Symposium theme is “Contemporary Issues in Election Law.” Interested individuals should submit an abstract of no more than 500 words by July 29, 2022.
6. The Erasmus Initiative Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity at Erasmus University invites abstract submissions for a workshop on “Human Rights and International Investment Law” to be held online on October 27-28, 2022. The deadline for submission is July 31, 2022.
7. The Centre of Philosophy of the University of Lisbon will host an international interdisciplinary conference on the topic “The Idea of Person – Between Being and Becoming” to be held in a hybrid format at the School of Arts and Humanities of the University of Lisbon on April 3-5, 2023. Those interested in submitting Individual paper and panel submissions are expected to submit an abstract by December 31, 2022.

Elsewhere Online

1. Michael Foran For Whom The Bell Tolls: Prime-ministerial Resignation and the Political Constitution Verfassungsblog
2. Brian Christopher Jones, The emerging ‘Nothing to See Here’ judicial review defences, UK Constitutional Law Association Blog 
3. René Repasi The ‘Taxonomy Delegated Act’: Beyond what delegated legislation may do EU Law Live
4. Samer Alnasir Iraq Urgently Needs a Real Constitution IACL-AIDC Blog
5. Andrea Maria Pelliconi The Trilateral Agreement between Turkey, Finland and Sweden and the Silence of Human Rights: The Need to Apply the MoU in Light of Human Rights and Refugee Law Protections  EJIL: Talk!
6. John Cotter Untying the Ties that (don’t) Bind The European Council’s Discretion to Exclude Democratically Unaccountable Representatives Verfassungsblog
7. Philip A. Wallach, Will West Virginia v. EPA cripple regulators? Not if Congress steps up Brookings
8. Elizabeth R. Kirk and Dr. Ingrid Skop, Why the Dobbs decision won’t imperil pregnancy-related medical care SCOTUSblog
9. J. Joel Alicea Why Originalism Is Consistent with Natural Law: A Reply to Critics National Review