What’s New in Public Law

–Marieta Safta, Professor Phd, Titu Maiorescu University, Bucharest, Romania

–Niels Graaf, Assistant Professor, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands

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 European Court of Human Rights, in the case of Vervele v. Greece decided that there had been a violation of the right to a fair trial and a violation of the right to an effective remedy. The case concerned excessively lengthy civil proceedings that the applicant had brought against Ippokrateio General Hospital of Athens, where she had worked as a cleaner, for non-payment of salary.
2. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to block enforcement of Mississippi’s controversial social media age‑verification law, allowing it to remain in effect while litigation continues. The law mandates that platforms verify user ages and obtain parental consent for minors. Although Justice Kavanaugh acknowledged NetChoice’s likelihood of prevailing on constitutional grounds, he ruled that an injunction was unwarranted at this stage.
3. The AfD (Alternative for Germany) has filed a constitutional complaint against the domestic intelligence agency’s classification of the party as a “suspected case” (Verdachtsfall) of anti-constitutional activity.
4. The European Court of Human Rights granted leave to the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe to intervene as a third party in the Court’s proceedings in the case of the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association and Others v. Georgia (application no. 31069/24). For this purpose, the draft amicus curiae brief will be submitted for adoption at the 144th plenary session of the Venice Commission (Venice, 9-10 October 2025).

In the News

1. On August 20, 2025, the Indian government tabled three far-reaching constitutional amendment bills in Parliament. Taken together, the measures would overhaul the parliamentary convention that ministers are accountable only to the House.
2. Many Dutch Ministers resigned on August 22. After the resignation, several Dutch ministers are now handling double portfolios. Of the four parties that entered government 14 months ago, only the right-wing liberal VVD and the farmers’ party BBB remain. The coalition began to unravel in June, when Geert Wilders withdrew his far-right PVV ministers, setting off the collapse.
3. Guinea’s military junta suspended three main political parties ahead of a constitutional referendum
4. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas formed a committee to draft an interim constitution.
5. Texas and Florida asked a federal judge to let them join a lawsuit seeking to restrict the availability of the abortion pill mifepristone. The lawsuit is currently being led by Missouri, Kansas and Idaho, who argue that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration acted improperly when it eased restrictions on mifepristone, including by allowing it to be prescribed remotely and dispensed by mail.

New Scholarship

1. Dürr Rudolf Schnutz: Remedies against Discriminatory Decisions Taken or Prepared by Artificial Intelligence Systems: European Union, Council of Europe and the Venice Commission’s Approaches (2025) Constitutional Law Review RDC Nr 1/2025 (On the basis of recommendations from the Venice Commission, highlighting the need for individuals to have to access to training data when appealing biased AI-based decisions).
2. Tuli Y and Arafa M: From McDonnell to Snyder: The Supreme Court’s Public Corruption Cases and the Coming Narrowing of White-Collar and FCPA Enforcement  (Yale Journal on Regulation, Notice & Comment, 13 August 2025) (examining how the US Supreme Court’s decisions narrow the scope of public corruption and their impact on FCPA and white-collar enforcement).
3. Varga Zs, András and Berkes, Lilla (eds), Federalism as the Future of the Diverse EU? Studies of the Central European Professors’ Network (Central European Academic Publishing, Miskolc–Budapest 2025) (containing a series of essays on the EU and federalism).
4. Alexander Thiele: Machtsfaktor Karlsruhe. Das Bundesverfassungsgericht im System des Grundgesetzes (Campus Verlag July 2025) (providing a critical reconstruction of one of the most important institutions of post-war Germany).
5. Wiebe Hommes: The Convention and the Kingdom. How the Netherlands Received the European Convention on Human Rights (Cambridge University Press 2025) (setting out the history of the European Convention on Human Rights as it moved from a little known document to one, if not the prime tool for legal human rights protection in the Netherlands).
6. The new issue of ZaöRV/Heidelberg Journal of International Law 2/2025 is out now (features a special issue on “Re-Examining Solange I”).

Calls for Papers and Announcements

1. The 2026 Public Law Conference – Faculty of Law, University of Cape Town on the theme Public Law and the Future of Constitutional Democracy, from 1 – 4 July 2026. The chosen theme aims to set meaningful parameters while facilitating a variety of responses from public lawyers across a range of legal systems in the common-law world. Details here.
2. The Constitutions for Peace Conference – Hanley Democracy Center, University of Miami (Coral Gables, Florida, US), 15–16 November 2025. Building on the “Constitutions 4 Peace” research initiative initiated in 2024, the conference explores how constitutional reform—including interim constitutions and new constitutional orders—can facilitate peacebuilding, transitional justice, and inclusive governance, especially in post-conflict or transitioning societies. Details here.
3. Atelier de travail du 19 septembre 2025 – Luxembourg rE:UNite Mieux protéger les droits fondamentaux et les droits humains: synergies entre droit de l’Union et traités onusiens. Boosting rights protection by exploring synergies between EU fundamental rights law and UN human rights treaties.
4. II Congreso Investigaciones Sobre el Sistema Interamericano de Derechos Humanos (4 de septembre 2025).
5. The African Human Rights Law Journal (AHRLJ), published by Pretoria University Law Press (PULP), is inviting expressions of interest from qualified scholars to join its editorial team as co-editor(s). To apply: Send your expression of interest to the Editor-in-Chief, Prof Frans Viljoen (frans.viljoen@up.ac.za). Deadline: 30 September 2025
6. The ICON-S Interest Group “Transformative Constitutionalism in Latin America”, proposed by the ICCAL Brazil Network, invites the academic community to contribute to the second volume of the book “Transformative Constitutional Dialogues.”
7. Lone Wolves of Strasbourg (4-5 September), Law Faculty, University of Strasbourg. On the evolving role of lawyers in European human rights adjudication: how they prepare and represent human rights cases, and how broader dynamics such as legal aid reforms, pro bono trends, conservative legal movements, and authoritarian shifts are reshaping this landscape. To join online, please send an email to: lawyersworkshop2025@gmail.com.
8. Conference (8-9 September): “The Role of National Human Rights Institutions in Promoting Rights and Preventing Rights-Related Litigation and Conflicts” (Bocconi University). Keynote speakers include: Sirpa Rautio (EU Agency for Fundamental Rights) András Jakab (European Court of Human Rights) Marta Cartabia (former President of the Italian Constitutional Court & Member of the Venice Commission). Register here.

Elsewhere Online

1. Daniel Olmedo, ‘From Term Limits to No Limits: El Salvador’s Constitutional Reform on Presidential Re-election’, ConstitutionNet, International IDEA, 26 August 2025
2. Emily Berman, Trump’s Manufactured Emergencies, Verfassungsblog, 22 August 2025.
3. Igor Popović, Not a Curtain Drop, but an Abuse of Rights, Verfassungsblog, 26 August 2025.
4. Laura Clérico y Sofía Reca Milanta, La Opinión Consultiva 32 de 2025 sobre emergencia climática y derechos humanos. La desigualdad y vulnerabilidad climática: de los márgenes al centro (Part 1 and Part 2), IberICONnect, 25 August 2025.
5. Masoom Sanyal, The 130th Constitutional (Amendment) Bill: Classic Case of a Constitutional Hardball, Law and Other Things, 30 August 2025.