What’s New in Public Law

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—Surbhi Karwa, Lecturer, Jindal Global Law School, India

—Yacine Ben Chaabane Mousli, Master’s student, University Paris Panthéon-Assas

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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. In an important development for fourth branch institutions, the Indian Supreme Court holds that members of the Election Commission of India have to be appointed on the advice of a committee comprising of Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition and Chief Justice of India.
2. The Belgian Constitutional Court sustained the so-called pandemic laws that allow the Government to enact state of emergency, permitting the law to “serve as a legal basis in the event of possible future pandemics”.
3. The South African Constitutional Court dismissed the President’s Ramaphosa’s application to overturn the Section 89 panel’s report on the Phala Phala scandal, allowing the Parliament to form an ad hoc committee.
4. The Supreme Court of the Central African Republic approved a law allowing the government to organise a referendum in order to implement institutional reforms.
5. In the case Delaware v. Pennsylvania about exceptions to reports of special matters, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson issued her first opinion for a unanimous Supreme Court.
6. The Kenyan Supreme Court ruled that authorities were wrong to ban the gay community from registering a rights organisation.

In the News

1. The German Federal Administrative Court ruled that the practice of regularly analysing data carriers, including mobile phones, by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees when registering asylum applicants is illegal.
2. French Senate accepts to add the abortion in the Constitution, despite a phrasing that doesn’t guarantee it as a fundamental right.
3. After his grab of power, the Tunisian president increases pressure against judicial independence and embraces racist rhetoric against migrants and black Tunisians.
4. The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments related to the Biden administration’s forgiveness plan. The “major questions doctrine” seems to threaten the plan to forgive billions of dollars in federal student debt. 
5. In Czechia’s first climate change judgement, the Prague’s Municipal Court upheld the plaintiff’s right to a favourable against the government.
6. The Australian Prime Minister announced that the  referendum to constitutionalize the Indigenous advisory body should take place before the end of 2023.

New Scholarship

1. Bui, Ngoc Son, ‘Discursive Constitutionalism’ (arguing for construction of constitutionalism through public discourse by giving explanatory account of this model in three countries- Japan, China and Vietnam.)
2. Castillo-Ortiz, Pablo, ‘Right-Wing Eurosceptic Parties and the Strategic Use of Law’ (examining the use of legal concepts and institutions by Eurosceptic actors to refute European integration.)
3. Ćapeta, Tamara, Iris Goldner Lang and Tamara Perišin,‘The Changing European Union: A Crticial View on the Role of Law and the Courts’ (analyzing EU’s responses to various new challenges both internally and externally.)
4. Cormacain, Ronan, ‘The Form of Legislation and the Rule of Law’ (inquiring what rule of law requirements mean for the form that legislations must take.)
5. Fabio de Sa e Silva, ‘Autocratic Legalism 2.0: Insights from a Global Collaborativem Research Project’ (presenting in-depth studies of autocratic legalism in Brazil, India, and South Africa (BISA) based on the first phase of Project on Autocratic Legalism.)
6. Dixon, Rosalind, ‘Responsive Judicial Review: Democracy and Dsyfunction in the Mordern Age’ (arguing that courts should adopt a sufficiently ‘dialogic’ approach to countering relevant democratic blockages and look for ways to increase the actual and perceived legitimacy of their decisions.)
7. Dziedzic, Anna and Samararatne, ‘Asking the Women’s Question of Constitutions: Insights from Sri Lanka’ (asking the ‘women’s question’ of Constitutions and inquiring from Global South example of Sri Lanka on gendered perspectives of Constitutions.)
8. Fontaine, Lauréline, ‘The mistreated Constitution’ (La Constitution maltraitée, Anatomie du Conseil constitutionnel). (analysing the French Constitutional Council’s dysfunctions that prevents it from becoming a genuine judicial organ.)
9. Gebeye, Berihun, ‘The Identity of the Constitutional Subject and the Construction of Constitutional Identity: Lessons from Africa’ (arguing for the relevance of identity of the constitutional subject and its accompanying social and political movements through example of three tiered political identity at continental, national, and sub-national level.)
10. Holden, Richard, and Dixon, Rosalind, ‘From Free to Fair Markets: Liberalism After Covid19’ (arguing for rebooting and moving beyond recent neo-liberal versions of liberalism toward a more truly democratic form- from the idea of free markets to a vision of fair markets.)
11. Khaitan, Tarunabh, Dinesha Samararatne, Swati Jhaveri, ‘Constitutional Resilience in South Asia’ (edited volume on stability and resilience of constitutional democracies in South Asia.)
12. Kureshi, Yasser, ‘Seeking Supremacy: The Pursuit of Judicial Power in Pakistan’ (arguing for audience-based approach to understand the variation and change in judicial-military relations in Pakistan.)
13. Malagodi, Mara, ‘Nepal’s Constitutional Foundations between Revolution and Cold War (1950–60)’ (arguing that1950s represent a foundational constitutional decade for Nepal with long-term consequences in its internal and external connotations.)

Calls for Papers and Announcements

1. You can still send your paper for the I.CON 9th Annual Conference taking place in New-Zealand.
2. The first issue of the Orbeliani Law Review has been published. The Journal welcomes submission for future issues. Submission guidelines are available here.
3. Dharmashastra National Law University – Student Law Journal (DNLU-SLJ) has opened its Call for Papers. The submission deadline is March 15, 2023. This peer-reviewed journal welcomes submissions on law and legal studies from all angles, including comparative, global, and transdisciplinary views.
4. The Cornell International Affairs Journal has opened its Call for Papers and welcomes submissions on contemporary international relations and international affairs.
5. The Consortium for Undergraduate Law & Justice Programs are calling for participants for their conference workshop in San Juan Puerto Rico, happening one day prior to the start of the Law & Society Association Meeting.
6. Applications are now open for the second edition of the School on Digital Constitutionalism to be held from 26-28 June 2023 at the University of Florence.
7. In collaboration with The Legal, Legislative and Research Services of the Parliamentary Administration and the International Journal of Parliamentary Studies, The “Austrian Day of Parliamentary Research” invites academic contributions from all disciplines.
8. Registrations are now open for Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies, University of Melbourne Constitutional Law Conference in July 2023.
9. The first edition of the ICON•S Winter/Summer School welcomes applications until March 20th.

Elsewhere Online

1. Abdulai, Emmanuel Saffa, ‘Constitutional Transformations in Sierra Leone’ (28 Feburary 2023).
2. Zedelashvili, Davit, ‘Georgia’s Bill on Foreign Agents and the Limits of the EU’s Soft Power’ (1 March 2023).
3. Tom Ginsburg wins American Society of International Law Robert E. Dalton Award for Outstanding Contribution in the Field of Foreign Relations Law: 2022-23 for Democracies and International Law (CUP 2021).
4. Expert Advisory Group appointed to guide the landmark reforms to Australia’s system of federal administrative review. Members include Prof. Cheryl Saunders.
5. University of Chicago appoints leaders for the new Forum for Free Expression and Inquiry which will be launched this fall.