What’s New in Public Law

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—Anubhav Kumar, Advocate & Researcher, Supreme Court of India 

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In this weekly feature, I-CONnect publishes a curated reading list of developments in public law. “Developments” may include links to news, high court decisions, new or recent scholarly books, 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. Federal appeals court preserves access to abortion pill for now but tightens rules.
2. Pakistan’s Supreme Court halts implementation of bill aimed at limiting powers of chief justice.
3. Supreme Court allows $6 billion student loan debt settlement.
4. South Korean top court upholds $760M fine decision against US company.
5. Supreme Court declines to hear B.C. doctor’s fight to let patients pick private health care
6. Supreme Court upholds acquittal of Quebec man who refused breathalyzer test .

In the News

1. President Joe Biden’s administration to petition US Supreme Court to stop abortion pill curbs.
2. Supreme Court takes steps for inclusion of LGBTQIA+ community & sexuality sensitization.
3. US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas received art gifts from billionaire conservative donor.
4. Government on the motion to disqualify Constitutional Court judge from ruling.
5. French court to decide on pension reform after months of protests.
6. Israeli Court Rules Minister Can’t Revoke Residency Status for Deterrence Purposes.

New Scholarship

1. Richard Albert, The Most Powerful Court in the World? Judicial Review of Constitutional Amendment in Canada (2023) (Argues that the extraordinary power of judicial review of constitutional reform is not unique among the world’s constitutional democracies. Yet the way the Court exercises this power – by reviewing a reform prior to its formal proposal or enactment – puts the Canadian Supreme Court in contention for the title of the most powerful court in the world.)
2. Michael Byers and Aaron Boley, Who Owns Outer Space? : International Law, Astrophysics, and the Sustainable Development of Space (2023) (explores essential questions from, ‘How do we ensure all of humanity benefits from the development of Space, and not just the world’s richest people?’ to ‘Is it possible to avoid war in Space?’)
3. Leonam Lucas Nogueira Cunha, Queer Methodologies in the Study of Law: Notes about Queering Methods (2023) ( Research, based on a queer theoretical-epistemological approach, seeks to analyze and bring together the Spanish and Brazilian legal overviews regarding the recognition of trans rights, in view of reconstructing policies that contemplate the demands of trans movements)
4. Surbhi Karwa, Book Review: Founding mothers of the Indian republic: gender politics of the framing of the constitution (2023) (Argues that the book sets the record of Indian constitutional history straight by relocating the authorship of women constitution-makers, who have hitherto been forgotten in the memory of the Indian Republic and the book creates potential for reshaping our current constitutional and feminist discourse on multiple issues by rereading the position of women constitution-makers.)
5. Naz K. Modirzadeh ,‘[L]et Us All Agree to Die a Little’: TWAIL’s Unfulfilled Promise (Forthcoming 2023) (Argues that the Third World Approach to International Law’s promise is unfulfilled  and that, if TWAIL’s current trajectory continues, its promise is likely to be unfulfillable. It also contends that TWAIL’s diverse critical insights have not led to cohesive conceptual, doctrinal, or political positions, which would serve as tools to empower Global South-based actors.)
6. Shigenori Matsui, Sex, Sexuality, and the Constitution : Enshrining the Right to Sexual Autonomy in Japan (Forthcoming 2023) (A rigorously detailed argument for sexual autonomy as a constitutional right, a position with far-reaching implications for government policies)

Calls for Papers and Announcement

1. The 51st Annual Conference on South Asia, Madison invites proposals for papers and artistic presentations for a day-long symposium on “Queer Failures and Possibilities: Trans Movements in Contemporary South Asia,” to be held on 18 October 2023. Last date of Application is April 30, 2023. Details are available here.
2. JSW School of law invites applications for its inaugural Summer Law School in collaboration with NUS Singapore and NLSIU, Bangalore. The summer school will be held in Paro Bhutan from June 26 to July 10, 2023. The application deadline is May 22, 2023. Details are available here.
3. The University of Liverpool School of Law and Social Justice along with Selden’s Sister is inviting abstracts for their one-day Symposium on “Celebrating Women in Legal History: The Lives and Legacies of Early Women Legal Historians”. Last date of application April 21, 2023.
4. The University of Washington School of Law invites applications for two open positions; Associate Dean and Director of the Law Library AND a visitor to teach courses in business law and entrepreneurship. Details are here.
5. The Nevada Law Journal calls for papers for its symposium issue, Avoiding Disaster: Understanding, Mitigating, and Adapting to the Global Climate Crisis. Abstracts are due May 16, 2023. Details are here.

Elsewhere Online

1. Georgia Delgado-Fitzgerald, The Legacy of the 1993 Democratic Transition of Seychelles, Oxford Human Rights Hub
2. Jan Boesten, Colombia, a Besieged Democracy with (New) Oligarchic Tendencies? Verfassungsblog
3. Eric Segall, Justice Thomas, Frederick Douglass, and Constitutional Misinformation, Dorf on Law
4. Sylvie Namwase, Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill and the Demise of the Rule of Law, African Law Matters
5. Samantha Robb, Dr Aline Jaeckel and Dr Catherine Blanchard , How could the BBNJ Agreement affect the International Seabed Authority’s Mining Code?, EJIL Talk
6. Neha Tripathi and Vinay Kumar, Transgender persons and their reproductive rights in India: A quest for health justice, The Analysis