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What’s New: Week of February 9

—Dhruv Singhal, Managing Editor, Comparative Constitutional Law and Administrative Law Journal, National Law University, Jodhpur.

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 stayed the operation of new regulations which created strict enforceable anti-discrimination obligations on universities to protect historically marginalised groups, as a form of affirmative action. The order places their constitutionality under review, particularly with reference to equality guarantees and limits of regulatory authorities.
  2. A US District Court in Minnesota declined to halt a large-scale federal immigration enforcement operation, rejecting a challenge by the state and two cities that sought to block it at an interim stage. The court held that US constitutional limits preventing the federal government from compelling state cooperation (the Tenth Amendment’s anti-commandeering doctrine) have not clearly been extended to situations where federal action indirectly burdens state and local resources.
  3. In January 2026, a Indian Supreme Court bench delivered a split verdict on the constitutionality of a statutory anti-corruption provision that required prior government approval before public servants can be investigated for decisions made in their official capacity, resulting in a referral to a larger bench for decision.
  4. The Hague District Court held that the Netherlands had breached its international climate obligations by failing to adopt adequate mitigation and adaptation measures to protect Bonaire, a climate-vulnerable Caribbean territory. Grounding its reasoning in Article 8 of the ECHR and international climate treaties, the court ordered the government to take concrete remedial action within 18 months, reinforcing the justiciability of climate commitments through human rights law.
  5. The High Court of Kenya stayed the implementation of a US–Kenya health cooperation framework, holding that serious constitutional questions had been raised over executive treaty-making without adequate public participation or parliamentary oversight. The interim order underscores the court’s role in enforcing constitutional limits on international agreements, particularly in relation to fiscal accountability, data protection, and democratic process.

In the News

  1. Iranian authorities responded to nationwide protests triggered by economic collapse with a sweeping security crackdown, involving lethal force, mass killings, and a nationwide internet shutdown. From a legal perspective, the events raise grave violations of international human rights law, including the rights to life, peaceful assembly, freedom of expression, and the prohibition on arbitrary use of force, compounded by entrenched impunity for prior protest-related abuses.
  2. Australia’s Parliament enacted new federal gun control and hate crime legislation expanding the post-1996 National Firearms Agreement framework, in response to gaps revealed by the Bondi Beach terrorist shooting. The reforms strengthen firearms restrictions, create aggravated offences for religiously motivated violence, and recalibrate the balance between public safety and individual licensing rights within Australia’s constitutional and criminal law framework.
  3. Spain’s Prime Minister announced proposed legislation to bar minors from accessing social media, framing digital platforms as a regulatory space requiring stronger state intervention to protect children’s rights. The measures signal a shift toward rights-based digital regulation, raising constitutional and EU law questions on proportionality, freedom of expression, data protection, and platform accountability.
  4. Hong Kong courts began trial proceedings against three pro-democracy activists under the National Security Law for organising Tiananmen Square commemorative vigils. Legally, the case exemplifies the expanded use of national security offences to criminalise peaceful assembly and historical remembrance, marking a sharp contraction of civil liberties under Hong Kong’s post-2020 constitutional order.
  5. Georgia’s ruling party introduced legislative amendments that would sharply expand state control over foreign funding and political activity, subjecting a broad range of civil society support to prior government approval and criminal санк­tions. From a constitutional and human rights perspective, the proposals raise serious concerns regarding freedom of association, political participation, and proportionality, echoing restrictive “foreign influence” laws used to suppress dissent.

New Scholarship

  1. Eduardo Alemán & Sebastián Soto Velasco (eds.), The Law and Politics of Constitution Making (Routledge, 1st ed. 2026), available here.
  2. Ying Xia, “Strategic Anthropocentrism: Framing Animal Protection in China’s Public Interest Litigation“, Journal of Environmental Law (2025)
  3. Jayna Kothari (ed.), Transforming Rights: How Law Shapes Transgender Lives, Identity and Community in India (Queer Directions 2025).
  4. E. Arban, M. de Visser & J.-I. Yun (eds.), The Language of Comparative Constitutional Law: Questioning Hegemonies (Hart Publishing 2025), available here.
  5. Roshni Shanker, Astha Sharma & Kuldeep Lakwal, India’s New Labour Law Codes: A Study of the State Rules for Female and Migrant Workers (World Bank, 31 May 2025)

Calls for Papers and Announcements

  1. The Istanbul Bar Association and Ankara University Faculty of Law invite submissions for their conference, Constitutionalism in the Age of Global Ecological Challenges, to be held on 5–6 June 2026, in Istanbul, Türkiye. Abstracts due by 2 March 2026.
  2. Warwick University will host an online Roundtable on AI and Constitutional Law on 4 March 2026, at 5:00–6:30 pm GMT, hosted by the Centre for Constitutions in Context (CCC).
  3. The Editorial Committee of Public Law invites Guest Editors to submit proposals for a themed set of ‘Analysis’ papers to be published in the April 2027 issue of the journal. Proposals should be submitted by 3 April 2026.
  4. Lord Justice Rabinder Singh will deliver Public Law‘s Annual Lecture, on “Substantive principles of public law: what happened after 1987?” at Lincoln’s Inn Fields, LSE, London. Registration for the in-person event and details are here.
  5. National Law University Jodhpur, India’s Centre for Comparative Constitutional Law and Administrative Law invites submissions on a rolling basis for their blog, The Pith and Substance Blog.
  6. ICON-S-Pre/ICON Esprit is now accepting applications for junior scholars attending the ICON·S Annual Conference 2026 in Dublin, for a pre-conference day-long program offering 50 places to MA/PhD students and early career academics within five years of completing their terminal degree, in an initiative supported by TriCON – Trinity Centre for Constitutional Governance, Trinity College Dublin, TCD alumnus Craig Verdon, and ICON•S. Applications are due by 1 March 2026.
  7. The University of Texas at Austin’s Concept Integration in Comparative Law team has launched the Sartori.network platform, allowing researchers to map the conceptual landscape of law and political science, explore varied conceptualizations of a topic, and compare new topics to established frameworks. Join their training on this and other open-source digital tools on February 12.

Elsewhere Online

  1. Chandler Rankin, Challenging Politically Discriminatory Funding Cuts, Harvard Law Review Blog (1 February 2026)
  2. Lasse Schuldt, New Constitution, Anyone?: A Referendum Exposes Thailand’s Anti-Popular Constitutionalism, Verfassungsblog (2026).
  3. Vinay Joy, Srishti Ramkrishnan & Ajay Kranthi, Equity and Dignity at Work: The Jane Kaushik Judgment and Transgender Employment Rights, Law & Other Things (23 January 2026).
  4. Bipin Adhikari, Nepal’s Gen Z Movement and Constitutional Crisis, ConstitutionNet (21 January 2026).
  5. Rajesh Ranjan & Deepak Kumar Meena, UGC: India’s Higher Education Needs More Than Symbolic Equity-Driven Measures, The Wire (1 February 2026).

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