What’s New in Public Law

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—Nicola Abate, Ph.D. candidate in Law, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona

—Recep Orhun Kılıç, PhD Student, Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli 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. The Mexican Supreme Court declares unconstitutional the 6-month time limit for being entitled to a widow’s pension.
2. The Colombian Constitutional Court states that the administrative judge has the duty to verify decisions that deprive a person of his freedom.
3. The Canadian Supreme Court overturns immigration decisions that found two foreign citizens inadmissible to Canada.
4. The ICJ will hold public hearings in the case concerning Application of the  International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
5. The Indian Supreme Court rules on the limitation period suspension during Covid-19 crisis.
6. The Indian Supreme Court decides in matter concerning the custody of child.
7. The Federal Supreme Court of Brazil recognized  the massive violation of fundamental rights in the Brazilian penitentiary system.
8. The Turkish Constitutional Court president says disagrees with ECHR’s decision regarding ByLock.
9. South Korean Constitutional Court upholds male-only conscription.

In the News

1. Macron proposes a constitutional reform on the topic of referendums.
2. Blinken said legal studies were underway on how Russia’s assets abroad could be seized to help rebuild Ukraine.
3. Clash in Belgium over a draft proposal criminalizing some types of protests.
4. Armenia makes it impossible for Putin to return to its territory after it has accepted the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.
5. The European Media Freedom Act could be a warning signal for some European states.
6. EU member states’ representatives reached an agreement on the final component of a common European asylum and migration policy.
7. Parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe holds its autumn session
8. Global leaders issued a call for reform and renewed multilateral cooperation during the General Assembly’s crunch week.
9. Continued support for Ukraine against Russia and its future accession to the EU are the main topics the 3rd Meeting of the European Political Community in Granada, Spain.
10. The President of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), Síofra O’Leary, spoke in Madrid on issues of amnesty and judicial independence.
11. A special session celebrates 35 years of the Brazilian Federal Constitution in the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil.
12. Anti-affirmative action group challenges US Naval Academy’s admissions policy.
13. US Supreme Court mulls limiting disability bias lawsuits.
14. Major tests await conservative US Supreme Court in new term.

New Scholarship

1. K. J. Alter, “So Long as We are a Constitutional Democracy: The Solange Impulse in a Time of Anti-Globalism” (the author shows the role of German Constitutional Court in protecting rights and democracy in age of anti-globalism).
2. D. Ferri, F. Palermo, and G.Martinico (edited by), “Federalism and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Implementation of the CRPD in Federal Systems and Its Implications” (The contributors explore the relationships between federalism and disability rights by investigating how he UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is implemented by different federal systems around the world).
3. M. Dani, M. Goldoni, and A. G. Menéndez, “The Legitimacy of European Constitutional Orders. A Comparative Inquiry” (the contributors deal with the comparative reconstruction and assessment of national and supranational constitutional developments in the European context in light of Ackerman’s approach).
4. C. M. Cameron and Jonathan P. Kastellec, “Making the Supreme Court The Politics of Appointments, 1930-2020” (the authors analyze the path and the journey of the US Supreme Court).
5. C. Suzack, “Equality for Indigenous Women: McIvor v. Canada” (the author examines the struggle for gender equality among Indigenous women in Canada”.
6. B. Major, “Recovering the Dimensions of Dignity in Religious Freedom: Protecting Religious Proselytization in International Human Rights” (the auhtor examines the place and the role of religious proselytism within the landscape of human rights law).
7. J. Husa, “Comparative Law and Christianity—A Plank in the Eye?” (the paper analyzes the religious dimensions and influences in Western law).
8. M. Graber, “Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment: Our Questions, Their Answers” (the author examines the duties of government officials in the US landscape).
9. C. R. Sunstein, “Does Evidence Matter? Originalism and the Separation of Powers” (the contribution examines the relationship between the US Congress and the executive branch in light of public meaning originalism).
10. E. M. Maltz, “The Entire Fourteenth Amendment” (the article provides a comprehensive overview of the legislative history of the Fourteenth Amendment).
11. M. Jouet, “The Abolition and Retention of Life Without Parole in Europe: A Comparative and Historical Perspective” (the work examines the history and the progress of life without parole’s abolition in continental Europe).
12. H. Storey, “The Refugee Definition in International Law” (the authour examines he main debates over the meaning of key terms of the refugee definition).
13. A. Wagner and A. Matulewska, “Research Handbook on Jurilinguistics” (the authors deal with the communicative flexibility, legal genres, vulnerability of interlingual legal communication, and the cultural landscape of legal translation).

Calls for Papers and Announcements

1. Sciences Po Law PhD Program, and the Law and Political Science Doctoral School of Paris Nanterre University will hold their forthcoming Intensive Doctoral Week from 10 to 14 June 2024. Deadline for applications: December 1, 2023.
2. Law and Society Association Annual Meeting will take place in Denver, Colorado, USA, from June 6-9, 2024. The submission deadline is October 24, 2023.
3. International Race and Rights Lab and the Klau Institute for Civil and Human Rights are hosting “Workshop on Race and International Relations”. The workshop will take place online, via Zoom, on May 24, 2024. The deadline for proposal submissions is January 22, 2024.
4. Royal Holloway, University of London is hosting the 5th International and Comparative Law Insolvency Symposium. The Symposium will be held at Royal Holloway, University of London on 25 – 27 April 2024. Abstracts must be submitted by November 15, 2023.
5. Doctoral Colloquium: Current Research on the Human Right to Science will be held by University of Fribourg & Swiss National Science Foundation on 6 – 7 September 2024. Abstracts must be submitted by 15 November 2023.
6. The University of Wisconsin Law School’s State Democracy Research Initiative (SDRI) will hold a Roundtable on State Courts on April 19, 2024. Scholars interested in presenting a paper and participating in the Roundtable should submit a one-to-two-page abstract by November 15, 2023.
7. Geneva Graduate Institute Calls For Papers: “The Province Of International Law: Space, Time, And Representation In International Legal History”. Abstracts should be submitted by 31 October 2023.
8. Graduate students of all levels are welcome to the 2nd Graduate Conference on Constitutional Change at the University of Texas at Austin on January 11-13, 2024. More details here.

Elsewhere Online

1. Antoni Abat i Ninet presents the book “Constitutional Law and Politics of Secession”
2. C. Hearty’s keynote speech on the Council of Europe and imperialism is available.
3. A. Turmo presents her book “Res Judicata in European Law. A multi-faceted principle in a multilevel judicial system”
4. The recording of the Conference on the Constitutional Reform in the UK organized by Oxford Law Faculty is available
5. Interview to J. Ober on his book “The Civic Bargain: How Democracy Survives”
6. “Slicing Away at Regulatory Statutes” by Nina A. Mendelson.
7. “Automated Decision-Making and the Challenge of Implementing Existing Laws” by Richard Mackenzie-Gray Scott & Elena Abrusci.
8. “The Constitution Does Not Sleep” by Josephina Lee.
9. “Constitutional Pluralism and Article 370” by Kushagr Bakshi.
10. “The Comeback of the Mixed Chamber” by Joseph H.H. Weiler & Daniel Sarmiento.
11. “Europe’s Faustian Bargain” by Anja Bossow.
12. “False Hope for Democracy in Bosnia & Herzegovina” by Benjamin Nurkić & Admir Isanović.
13. “Civil Disobedience on Trial in Switzerland” by Jevgeniy Bluwstein, Clémence Demay & Lucie Benoit.
14. “The Wait is Coming to an End: The Brazilian Supreme Court’s Promising Opportunity to Finally Decriminalise Abortion up to 12 Weeks” by Tais Sofia Cunha De Barros Penteado.