Skip to main content

What’s New: Week of April 20

—Sumit Kumar Ganguly, Assistant Professor, The Neotia University, Diamond Harbour, India.

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 Supreme Court of India has observed no religion can be “hollowed out” for social and welfare reforms. The observations consisted of oral remarks made during hearings concerning a case that examines the scope of religious rights.
  2. The Federal Constitutional Court of Pakistan has upheld a federal government ban on the import of books from India and Israel, holding that legislative powers cover the enacting of such prohibition, and that courts should not intervene in questions concerning national security or foreign policy.
  3. The Supreme Court of Nigeria has agreed to accelerate hearings in a dispute over recognition of the leadership of the African Democratic Party, under the party’s constitution.
  4. The High Court of Australia has ruled that sovereign immunity protects India from the enforcement of an arbitral award, and that the ratification of the New York Convention does not imply that such immunity is waived.
  5. The High Court of Kenya has allowed a class action suit against British Petroleum to proceed. The petitioners allege that British Petroleum caused significant environmental pollution over decades, contaminating drinking water with radioactive material that caused death and illness to persons and livestock.
  6. Tanzania’s Court of Appeal has allowed an opposition party, Chadema, to engage in political activity again, ruling that the High Court erred in issuing an injunction banning them, and ordering the High Court judge in question to step down from hearing the matter.
  7. The Constitutional Court of Latvia has held that existing state regulations are not sufficient to ensure protection against excessive noise from public entertainment, holding that this can amount to restricting fundamental rights.
  8. The Caribbean Court of Justice will decide a referral on the interpretation of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, from the High Court of Belize. This is the first time that the Court’s original jurisdiction to hear such referrals has been invoked.
  9. The United States Supreme Court agreed unanimously to grant a request from oil and gas company Chevron, to send a case concerning environmental damage to federal courts instead of state courts. A state court had previously ordered Chevron to pay over $740m in damages for environmental harm.
  10. The Supreme Court of India has ordered the Election Commission of India to include voters who are able to successfully appeal their deletion from voter rolls for an upcoming state legislative election, following a voter roll revision process. Over 3.4 million appeals are pending for elections to be held in two phases on April 23 and 29 2026. Individuals whose appeals are still pending will not be able to vote.

In the News

  1. India’s Parliament voted to reject an amendment that sought to expand the size of the lower house from 543 to 815 seats, and initiate a delimitation process to redefine the boundaries of new constituencies. The Union Government had argued that this was necessary to implement a 2023 constitutional amendment that reserves 33% of Parliamentary seats for women, but withdrew these bills after failing to secure a 2/3 majority.
  2. The Speaker of Bangladesh’s National Parliament, Major (Retd.) Hafiz Uddin Ahmad has said in an interview with the press that constitutional amendments can only be enacted by constitutional procedures, and not by the unilateral efforts of any individual or group.
  3. Fiji’s Constitutional Review Commission has launched a public guide, ‘Our Constitution, Our Voice’ to enable participation in the ongoing constitutional review process.
  4. In Poland, the President of the Constitutional Tribunal has refused to recognise four judges who were elected by the Sejm (Lower House of the Parliament). The four judges took their oath in Parliament in front of the speaker after the Polish President refused to swear them in, escalating ongoing constitutional conflict.
  5. The Supreme Court of Ghana marked its 150th anniversary celebration on 16th April/
  6. United States Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor publicly apologised for prior comments criticising her colleague Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
  7. Slovenia’s Parliamentary Speaker announced an upcoming referendum on whether the state should withdraw membership from NATO.
  8. The Governor-General of the Solomon Islands has declined to summon Parliament, pending hearings in the Court of Appeal. The High Court had previously ordered the Prime Minister to convene Parliament to face a no-confidence motion, following mass defections to the opposition.
  9. The Privy Council has ruled against former government minister and activist Devant Maharaj, who sought to compel Trinidad and Tobago’s National Gas Company to disclose information on an agreement signed with Venezuela for supply of gas.
  10. An Indian High Court judge has resigned office amid efforts to impeach him, after unaccounted cash was found at his residence by responders to a fire. He had previously been transferred to another court.

New Scholarship

  1. V. Sudhish Pai, Constitutional Silences and Constitutional Conventions – Development of Constitutional Law, (April 2026) Comparative Constitutional Law and Administrative Law Journal.
  2. Thomas M. Keck, The distinctive pathologies of free speech jurisprudence at the US Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights, (April 2026) International Journal of Constitutional Law.
  3. Jakob Hohnerlein, Courts and legislation in a ‘constitutionalised’ private law: Insights from recent German practice for strengthening the democratic side of constitutionalism, (April 2026) Statute Law Review.
  4. Vinay Kaura, ‘Hybrid Militarised Legalism’ and Judicial Hollowing Out in Pakistan, (April 2026) Occasional Papers, Observer Research Foundation.
  5.  D. Carolina Núñez and Lucy Williams, Apophatic Interpretation, Birthright Citizenship, and the Anti-Aristocratic Constitution, (April 2026) BYU Law Research Paper.   
  6. Catarina Santos Nunes, Constitutional AI Governance in the Public Sector Precaution, Accountability, and the Limits of Automation, (April 2026) SSRN.
  7. Shruti Bedi, Blowin’ in the Wind: Reconnoitring the Constitutional Silence on Revival of Unconstitutional Statues in India, (April 2026) Comparative Constitutional Law and Administrative Law Journal.
  8. Aviram Shahal, Protecting the majority, restraining the minority: Constitutionalism in the wake of World War II and Israel’s early constitutional debate, (April 2026) International Journal of Constitutional Law.

Calls for Papers and Announcements:

  1. The Delhi Law Review (DLR) (Faculty of Law, University of Delhi India) has announced a call for papers for Volume 37 (2026–2027). The submission deadline is 30 May 30 2026.
  2. The NLUJ Law Review (National Law University Jodhpur, India) invites original and unpublished manuscripts for its Volume XII, Issue 2. The deadline for submissions is 1 June 2026.
  3. The Indian Journal of Constitutional Law (IJCL) (NALSAR School of Law, Hyderabad, India) invites submissions Volume XIV. The deadline for submissions is 31 May 2026.
  4. The UILS Student Law Review (University Institute of Legal Studies India) invites papers for its Volume III (2). The deadline for submissions is June 30, 2026.
  5. The DNLU Student Law Journal (Dharmashastra National Law University, Jabalpur, India) calls for submissions to Volume V (2026). The deadline for submissions is 5 May 2026.
  6. The RMLNLU Journal (RMLNLU, India) invites contributions on the theme of “Energy Laws and Sustainable Development: Global Perspectives” for its upcoming Volume XVIII (2026). The deadline for submissions is 30 May 2026.
  7. The CASIHR Journal on Human Rights Practice (Centre for Advanced Studies in Human Rights India) invites submissions for Volume 10 Issue 1. The deadline for submissions is 31 May 2026.
  8. The Colombo Law Review (Faculty of Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka) invites unsolicited manuscripts from any interested contributors. The deadline for submissions is 22 June 2026.

Elsewhere Online

  1. Upendra Baxi, ‘Mahendra Pal Singh (1940-2026): The Scholar Who Bridged Village Roots and Global Jurisprudence‘ India Legal (March 27, 2026)
  2. Bhasha Sharma, After a near collapse, groundwork begins to amend the constitution, Nepal News (April 13, 2026)
  3. Yerzhan Dosmukhamedov, Kazakhstan’s New Constitution: Reform or Power Consolidation?, The Diplomat (April 8, 2026)
  4. Vishal Vaibhav Singh, Regional benches of Supreme Court: A constitutional necessity deferred by institutional anxiety, Bar and Bench (April 3, 2026)
  5. Michael MacArthur Bosack, Four things to understand in Japan’s constitutional debate, The Japan Times (April 17, 2026)
  6. Zachary Shemtob, The Brazilian Federal Supreme Court, SCOTUSblog (April 17, 2026)
  7. V. Venkatesan, Quit before the verdict: The judicial accountability gap, Supreme Court Observer (April 10, 2026)
  8. Ashutosh Sarkar, Supreme Court loses 17 judges since July uprising, The Daily Star (April 14, 2026)
  9. Andreas Gutmann, Diego Núñez Santamaría, Alex Iván Valle Franco, Last Court Standing, Verfassungsblog (April 16, 2026)
  10. Youngjun Kim, South Korea’s constitutional moment — reform or escape hatch?, United Press International (April 8, 2026)
  11. Samuel Devaraj, High Court to hear submissions for Bloomberg defamation trial on May 22, The Straits Times (April 16, 2026)
  12. Priyank Kanoongo, The Myth Of Digital Privacy And Children’s Online Lives, LawBeat (April 11, 2026)

      Leave a Reply