What’s New in Public Law

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–Irina Criveț, PhD Candidate Public Law, Koç University

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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. Turkey’s Constitutional Court held that the Sivas massacre convict is eligible for parole. Sivas massacre refers to the 1993 arson attack on Alevi intellectuals that killed 35 people inside the Madımak hotel.
2. The Constitutional Court of France upholds raising the legal retirement age to 64.
3. The Supreme Court of India is considering legalising same-sex marriage.
4. The Albanian Constitutional Court abolished the Albanian Fuel Transparency Board on the basis of incompatibility with the Constitution of the Republic. The Fuel Board was set up as a reaction to inflation caused by the war in Russia-Ukraine and aimed to protect the price of oil, petrol and gas from abuses.
5. The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether to allow restrictions on mifepristone, the abortion drug, imposed by a lower court that would limit access to the drug, including in states where abortion remains legal.
6. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Rodney Reed, a Blackman on death row in Texas, was denied access by a lower court to DNA evidence that could demonstrate his innocence.

In the News

1. The U.S. Supreme Court will decide under what circumstances a business must accommodate the needs of religious employees.
2. Jeong Jeong-mi has been appointed to South Korea’s Constitutional Court.
3. Kuwait’s crown prince will dissolve the parliament and announce that new elections will take place in the following months.
4. The U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas faces a possible invitation to a Supreme Court Ethics hearing following his undisclosed acceptance of luxury travel and gifs from the billionaire GOP donor Harlan Crow.
5. Israel’s Central Elections Committee chairman Supreme Court Judge Noam Solberg has announced that the next elections will take place on 27 October 2026. 
6. Tel Aviv Municipality encourages principals to hang portraits of Supreme Court President Esther Hayut in classrooms to encourage the inclusion of gender diversity among national symbols.
7. Brazil’s Supreme Court has ordered ex-President Jair Bolsonaro to testify over his alleged role in his supporters storming government buildings to protest his election defeat.
8. The UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk calls on the Mexican Authorities to promptly act on the Supreme Court ruling declaring unconstitutional last year’s legal transfer of the National Guard to military control.

New Scholarship

1. Matej Avbelj (ed.) (2023) The Future of EU Constitutionalism (explores the future of EU constitutionalism in light of recent challenges to EU constitutional law – the pandemic and the political schisms emerging across the European Union – by examining “the five main pillars of EU constitutionalism: the constitutional values, the EU formal constitutional framework, its substance consisting of the EU political and economic constitution.”)
2. Emőd Veress (2023) Constitutional History of Transylvania, Studies in the History of Law and Justice (“examines the constitutional history of Transylvania, a region of Central Europe that has experienced a compelling series of historical events and been governed by a variety of ancient, medieval, and modern entities, as well as its own peoples, who from time to time have jointly or separately exercised their right to self-governance.”)
3. Marko Davinić, Svetislav Kostić (2023) Gender Competent Public Law and Policies (takes on an innovative perspective on public law and policies by tackling discussions on gender perspectives in constitutional law.)
4. Se-Shauna Wheatle & Elizabeth O’Loughlin (eds.) (2023, forthcoming) Diverse Voices in Public Law (“explores the main topics in UK Public Law from a range of underexplored perspectives and amplifies the voices of scholars who are underrepresented in the field.”)
5. Alysia Blackham (2023) Abandoning individual enforcement? Interrogating the enforcement of age discrimination law (analyses the role the individual enforcement plays in discrimination law by employing a mixed method, multi-year comparative study of the enforcement of age discrimination law in the U.K., Australia and Sweden.)

Calls for Papers and Announcements

1. The PluriCourts invites applications for a short fellowship offered to master students who wish to write a PhD in political science on topics concerning international courts. The deadline for application is 25 April 2023.
2. The Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration at Toronto Metropolitan University invites top-quality researchers working in the broader area of migration and integration studies to submit an expression of interest for externally funded fellowships hosted by the CERC in Migration at Toronto Metropolitan University. The deadline for application is 8 May 2023, 9:00 am EDT.
3. The Asser Institute invites applications for a Post-Doctoral Researcher in International Law and Artificial Intelligence to join the research strand on Disruptive technologies in peace and security within the Research Agenda – Rethinking public interests in international and European law –, and take part in the NWO-funded research project ELSA Lab Defence. The deadline for application is 12 May 2023, 23:59 CEST.
4. The British Institute of International and Comparative Law and the International Law Section of the Society of Legal Scholars will organise an online workshop on 20 November 2023. The workshop’s theme will be non-State actors in international law, specifically the role that non-State actors play in the creation, development, implementation, and enforcement of international law and how such non-State actors are increasingly regulated by international law. Interested contributors can submit their abstracts by 31 May 2023, 1700hrs BS.
5. You’re Not Alone: Normative Debates on (Digital) Solidarity in International Law and Policy Symposium calls for papers on the broader challenges, opportunities, and debates of digital solidarity in international law and policy. Deadline for abstract submission is 31 May 2023, 23:59 AEST.
6. Liverpool Hope University’s School of Law and Criminology calls for papers for a free one-day online conference exploring academic responses to the climate crisis, the environment and the rights of non-human animals. Deadline for abstracts:30th May 2023.
7. The IACL Roundtable – The Principle of Equality: New and Old Challenges will be held on 15-16 June 2023 at the University of Siena, Certosa di Pontignano. The program is available here, and register to attend in person here. In addition, the event will be livestreamed on the DIPEC Youtube Channel.

Elsewhere Online

1. Gautam Bhatia, Article 370 and a Governor’s Interview, Indian Constitutional Law and Philosophy
2. Samuel Issacharoff, Populism and the Future of Democracy, OUP Blog
3. Author Interview: Global Gender Constitutionalism and Women’s Citizenship: A Struggle for Transformative Inclusion, IACL-AIDC Blog
4. Spyridoula Katsoni, An Unneighborly Gift in Times of Need: Are States Required to Admit Persons Displaced by the Impacts of the Recent Earthquakes?, Völkerrechtsblog
5. Kuberan Hansrajh Kumaresan, Gender Discrimination in the Malaysian Constitution? – Part I and Part II, Oxford Human Rights Hub
6. Rupam Dubey, On the Potential of GATT Article XX for the Renewable Energy Sector: Revitalizing Local Content Requirements, Völkerrechtsblog
7. Petra Sußner, Intersectionality in Climate Litigation The Case of KlimaSeniorinnen v. Switzerland at the EctHR, Verfassungsblog
8. Ming-Sung Kuo, Context Is Open to Interpretation, Too A Response to Taiwan and the Myth of UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, Verfassungsblog
9. Suriya Tarannum Susan, Condoning Child Marriage in Bangladesh: A Step Backwards, Oxford Human Rights Hub
10. David Erdos, ‘Leave to Remain? Data Protection’s ‘Immigration Exemption’ Returns to Court’, UK Constitutional Law Blog
11. Bellinda Bartolucci & Regina Stoilova, Breaking down silos: the ECJ on the interactions between different sources of EU environmental legislation, European Law Blog
12. Aneisa Babkir, Kenya’s Continual Failure to Meet their Two-Thirds Gender Quota, Oxford Human Rights Hub
13. Scott Stephenson, Is the Voice to Uncertain or Risky?, AUSPUBLAW
14. Matilde Rocca, J.A. and Others v. Italy – Is the European Court of Human Rights turning its focus to maritime migrants?, EJIL:Talk
15. Gabriele Wadlig, Beyond Property Relations: Why the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’ Narrow Understanding of Land Limits the Protection of Human-Land Relationships, Völkerrechtsblog
16. Tess Castelijn and Lachezar Yanev, Arbitrary Detention in Non-International Armed Conflicts: A Tale of Two Hague Courts, EJIL:Talk!