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What’s New: Week of April 13

—Alan Mauricio Jiménez Díaz, PhD. Candidate in Comparative Constitutional Law, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain.

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 Constitutional Court of South Africa has determined that a private contractor must account for profits derived from an unlawful public contract for the payment of social grants, holding that, notwithstanding the contractor’s liquidation and the absence of wrongdoing in the initial tender award, it was just and equitable under its remedial powers to order repayment of an adjusted certified profit of approximately R81 million in light of the constitutional requirement of accountability for public funds.
  2. The Constitutional Court of Romania, by majority, has struck down provisions of Law No. 317/2004 governing the appointment of judicial inspectors, holding that allowing key aspects of the selection process to be regulated by administrative acts rather than by organic law violated the constitutional principles of the rule of law and legality, as well as the requirement that the organization and functioning of judicial bodies be established by statute.
  3. The Constitutional Court of Turkey has upheld the constitutionality of statutory provisions empowering the Competition Board to conduct on-site inspections “in cases it deems necessary,” finding that the measure pursues the legitimate aim of protecting competition and does not confer arbitrary authority, while dismissing related challenges on procedural grounds and limiting its review to rule-of-law and market regulation considerations rather than the constitutional guarantee of the inviolability of domicile.
  4. The Constitutional Court of Colombia has struck down a presidential decree declaring an economic emergency and authorizing extraordinary fiscal measures, holding that the rejection of a financing bill by Congress does not constitute an unforeseen crisis justifying exceptional powers, and reaffirming that tax policy must be adopted through the ordinary legislative process in accordance with the constitutional principle of separation of powers.
  5. The Supreme Court of the United States has summarily reversed a lower court ruling allowing a civil rights claim to proceed to trial, holding that a police officer was entitled to qualified immunity in an excessive force case, thereby reinforcing its recent practice of disposing of constitutional claims without full briefing and underscoring the high threshold plaintiffs face in establishing violations of clearly established law.

In the News

  1. Spain’s Council of Ministers has approved a draft constitutional reform to recognize and guarantee women’s sexual and reproductive rights, including access to voluntary termination of pregnancy under conditions of equality, sending the proposal to Parliament where it will require qualified majorities amid broader government measures addressing gender-based violence and recent emergency responses.
  2. Myanmar’s parliament has elected military leader Min Aung Hlaing as president following a military-organized election widely criticized as neither free nor fair, consolidating the armed forces’ control over the country’s political institutions despite the formal transition to a civilian government.
  3. South Africa’s Judicial Service Commission is set to interview candidates for multiple judicial vacancies across superior courts, including a key leadership position in the Gauteng High Court, amid growing public scrutiny over judicial performance, delays in delivering judgments, and concerns about declining trust in the judiciary.
  4. South Korea’s Cabinet has approved a proposal to amend the Constitution to tighten requirements for declaring martial law and incorporate key pro-democracy movements into its preamble, triggering a legislative process that could culminate in a national referendum pending parliamentary approval by a two-thirds majority.
  5. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, has signed into law a measure authorizing state officials to designate organizations as “terrorist” entities and impose sanctions including the expulsion of students who support them, prompting criticism from civil rights groups that the legislation may infringe constitutional protections of free speech and due process.

New Scholarship

  1. Vladislava Stoyanova, Positive obligations as coercive “rights” and compulsory vaccination under the European Convention on Human Rights (2026) International Journal of Constitutional Law (argues that framing compulsory vaccination as a conflict between positive and negative obligations under the ECHR mischaracterizes the issue, allowing general interests such as public health to operate under the guise of individual rights).
  2. Svenja Behrendt and Joel Colón-Ríos, Constitutional identity, democracy, and illiberal change (2026) International Journal of Constitutional Law (examines the tension between constitutional identity, democracy, and liberalism, arguing that while the concept may entrench core principles, it must also accommodate democratic change, including potential illiberal transformations, particularly in multilevel constitutional settings such as the European Union).
  3. Hugo Neves Pérez, De la teoría a la práctica: la eficacia de la iniciativa ciudadana europea en la participación democrática (2026) Revista de Estudios Políticos, número 21 (examines the effectiveness of the European Citizens’ Initiative as a participatory tool, arguing that its non-binding nature and institutional complexity limit its impact despite recent regulatory reforms aimed at enhancing citizen engagement).
  4. Jaclyn Neo, Populism and the politics of constitutional (mis-)identity (2026) International Journal of Constitutional Law (examines how populist movements instrumentalize constitutional identity to legitimize constitutional change, arguing for disentangling its descriptive and normative dimensions to better respond to its use in constitutional politics).
  5. Ankit Kaushik, Malak Sheth, and Manas Saxen, Seven to six: Questioning the assumptions underlying judicial majoritarianism in the Indian Supreme Court (2026) International Journal of Constitutional Law (critiques the theoretical foundations of judicial majoritarianism, arguing that its acceptance in India rests on unexamined assumptions and that recent case law exposes tensions in its epistemic, procedural, and normative justifications).
  6. Emilio Peluso Neder Meyer and Tímea Drinóczi, Is anyone doomed to live under illiberalism? Constitutional identity and democratic erosion in Hungary and Brazil (2026) International Journal of Constitutional Law (compares Hungary and Brazil to argue that constitutional identity, shaped by institutional and cultural factors, creates distinct conditions for the persistence or failure of illiberal political projects).
  7. Erick Guapizaca Jiménez, Pre-Legislative Indigenous Consultation (2026) 59 Vand. J. Transnat’l L. 287 (argues that pre-legislative consultation constitues a valid limitation on state power by requiring accomodation of the interests of Indigenous Peoples, and requires engagement with them as rights-holders with self-determination, allowing them to shape laws that have a direct impact).

Calls for Papers and Announcements

  1. The European Society of International Law Interest Group on Peace and Security invites paper proposals for a pre-conference workshop on “Peace and Security beyond the UN Charter,” to be held on 2 September 2026 in Malaga, Spain, in connection with the ESIL Annual Conference, with a submission deadline of 28 April 2026
  2. The African Early Career Legal Scholars’ Network invites applications for a programme supporting early-career African legal researchers through funded workshops and year-long mentorship focused on constitutionalism, human rights, and sustainable development, to be held in Tanzania and South Africa in 2026, with an application deadline of 9 April 2026.
  3. The Max Planck Law and the German Law Journal invite extended abstract submissions for the 2nd Transnational Junior Faculty Forum on “The Law of Digital Value Chains,” to be held in Munich on 3–4 September 2026, with an abstract submission deadline of 15 April 2026 and full articles due by 23 August 2026.
  4. The ICON-S Benelux Chapter invites paper and panel proposals for its third General Conference on “Trust in Transition: Public Law in a Changing World,” to be held on 26–27 October 2026 at Leiden Law School, with a submission deadline of 29 May 2026.
  5. The Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia invites participation in the II Congress on Integrity and Whistleblower Protection, to be held on 12–13 May 2026 in Madrid in hybrid format, bringing together academics, practitioners, and civil society to discuss issues related to integrity and legal compliance.
  6. The National University of Singapore Faculty of Law invites abstract submissions for a conference on law and emerging issues in artificial intelligence to be held on 10–11 December 2026 in Singapore, with a submission deadline of 30 April 2026 and selected papers to be considered for publication in the Singapore Journal of Legal Studies.
  7. The Constitutional Court of Spain invites applications for six training fellowships in constitutional doctrine research and analysis, with an initial duration of twelve months and possible extension, open to law graduates, with an application deadline of 17 April 2026
  8. The Comparative Judicial Studies Research Committee (RC09) of the International Political Science Association invites paper and panel proposals for the workshop “Court Roles in the Current Authoritarian Moment,” to be held on 15–16 October 2026 at the Institute for Legal Research, National Autonomous University of Mexico, with a submission deadline of 31 May 2026. 

Elsewhere Online

  1. Hussein Badreddine, Evacuation Orders: An Unlawful Use of Precautionary Measures?, Opinio Juris (April 2, 2026)
  2. Wojciech Zomerski, The Curious Life of Article 18: Is Poland Moving Toward the Recognition of Same-Sex Marriage?, I•CONnect blog (10 April 2026)
  3. University of Chicago Law School, Second Annual Constitutional Law Conference, (24 April 2026)
  4. Anja Bossow, A Win That Isn’t. Trump v. Barbara as a Case Study of Constitutional Rot, Verfassungsblog (9 April 2026)
  5. World Trade Organization and European Investment Bank, EIB–WTO Launch Partnership to Promote Trade and Investment in Developing Nations (4 March 2026)

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