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What’s New: Week of January 26

—Erick Guapizaca,  SJD Candidate, University of Michigan Law School

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 U.S. Supreme Court ruled that people cannot challenge a judgment as “void” years later without acting promptly, even if they argue the original court lacked authority. The decision gives courts discretion to reject late attempts to reopen cases that were treated as final for a long time.
  2. The U.S. Supreme Court did not issue a decision in the legal challenges to President Trump’s sweeping tariff regime, leaving unresolved whether his use of emergency powers to impose broad tariffs is lawful and postponing final resolution of the case to later in the term.
  3. Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled that the constitutional protection of Indigenous land rights cannot be repealed by Congress, rejecting efforts by lawmakers to limit recognition of Indigenous reservations based on disputed criteria from a 2023 law.
  4.  New Zealand’s Supreme Court unanimously upheld a lower-court decision that four Uber drivers are employees rather than independent contractors under the Employment Relations Act, rejecting Uber’s appeal and potentially opening the way for collective bargaining and access to statutory rights.
  5. The Constitutional Court of Ecuador overturned lower-court rulings and held that a municipal government violated due process and freedom of expression by restricting a citizen’s ability to comment on its official Facebook page.

In the News

  1. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the World Economic Forum in Davos that the global order has ruptured, warned that great powers are using economic coercion, and urged middle powers to coordinate or risk being sidelined. He reaffirmed Canada’s commitment to Nato and support for Greenland and Denmark, in remarks widely read as responding to US tariff threats and rhetoric about Greenland.  
  2. US President Donald Trump said at the World Economic Forum in Davos that he and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte had agreed on a “framework of a future deal” regarding Greenland and Arctic security, and he withdrew threatened tariffs on European allies as a result. Greenland’s premier Jens-Frederik Nielsen and European leaders expressed confusion or scepticism about the agreement’s substance, emphasized respect for Greenland’s sovereignty, and made clear no formal deal has been finalized.  
  3. Colombia suspended electricity exports to Ecuador and imposed a 30 percent tariff on 20 Ecuadorian products as a retaliation after Ecuador announced its own 30 percent tariff on Colombian goods, part of a rapidly escalating trade dispute linked to disagreement over cooperation on combating drug trafficking. Colombian President Gustavo Petro denied failing on security cooperation, described the measures as temporary and open to dialogue, and said the energy suspension was to protect domestic supply amid climate pressure.  
  4. South Korea has enacted what it calls the world’s first comprehensive set of artificial intelligence regulations, the AI Basic Act, aiming to ensure safety, transparency, and trust in AI use while supporting industry growth. Startups in the country warn that compliance burdens and vague standards could hinder innovation even as the government offers guidance and a grace period before enforcement begins.

New Scholarship

  1. Ayla do Alves & Lucas Lixinski, Enforcing International Judgments Domestically: The Case of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Brill, Nijhoff 2026).  
  2. Matthew S Erie, ‘Adversarial Comparativism: The Role of Emotion in United States–China Comparative Law Projects’, American Journal of Comparative Law  (2026).  
  3. Erick F. Guapizaca Jiménez, ‘Modern Slavery in Furukawa, Case No. 1072-21-JP/24‘, 120 American Journal of International Law 244 (2026).  
  4. Alexis Karteron, ‘Disability Rights on Probation and Parole‘, 124 Michigan Law Review 519 (2025).
  5. Nicolás M. Perrone, Domingo Lovera & Nicole Selamé, ‘Unexpected Duet? Constitutions and Investment Treaties as the Backbone of Latin American Extractivist Legality‘, Third World Q. (forthcoming 2026).
  6. Jaka Kukavica, ‘The Constitutional Contours of EU Crisis Law‘ European Journal of Risk Regulation 1–19 (2026)

Calls for Papers and Announcements

  1. The Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law invites abstracts for Volume 29 (publication end of 2026) on the law and practice of the United Nations and legal issues related to UN goals, alongside a special forum on “Rethinking the Notion of ‘Territory’ in International Law.” Abstracts of up to 500 words are due by 18 February 2026.
  2. The Annual Comparative Law Work-in-Progress Workshop invites submissions of one unpublished comparative law paper (up to 15,000 words) for an in-person workshop at Princeton University on 7–9 May 2026. Papers are due 20 February 2026).
  3. The Eleventh Annual Administrative Law New Scholarship Roundtable (Vanderbilt Law School) invites 1–2 page abstracts from junior administrative law scholars (generally under ten years in tenure-track teaching) to workshop papers on June 2–3, 2026. Abstracts are due February 27, 2026.
  4. The Society of Legal Scholars Public Law section invites paper proposals for a free, in-person conference on “The Legacy of Brexit and the Changing Political Landscape” at the University of Worcester (UK) on 25–26 June 2026. Papers may address the public law and constitutional implications of Brexit broadly, in the UK and abroad. Paper proposals are due 23 March 2026.
  5. The 6th International and Comparative Law Insolvency Symposium invites abstracts (max. 750 words) for a free in-person symposium on international, comparative, and cross-border insolvency at Drake University Law School (Des Moines) on 6–7 November 2026. Expressions of interest are due 31 March 2026.
  6. The researchers of the project Deep Impact through Soft Jurisprudence? The Contribution of United Nations Treaty Body Case Law to the Development of International Human Rights Law at Hertie School Centre For Fundamental Rights invite everyone to participate in their poll to select the best UN treaty body decision of 2025. They have shortlisted twelve decisions from seven treaty bodies. The summaries of these decisions and the poll can be accessed here. The poll is open until 9 February. 
  7. The University of Bologna School of Law will hold a conference on “The Language of Comparative Constitutional Law: Identities and Hegemonies” to discuss the book “The Language of Comparative Constitutional Law: Questioning Hegemonies” (Hart 2025) edited by Erika Arban, Maartje De Visser and Jeong-In Yun, on 30 January 2026

Elsewhere Online

  1. Jørgen Nyberget, Indigenous Self-Determination and Greenland: How the Inuit’s Right to Self-Determination Constrains External Decisions on Greenland’s Sovereignty, Verfassungsblog (Jan 22, 2026)
  2. Debora N. Gunawan, Ex Post State Responsibility for Politically Manufactured Disasters, Opinio Juris (Jan. 19, 2026)
  3. Julian Scheu, Expropriation, Oil and the Prohibition on the Use of Force: Justification Narratives and the Effectiveness of International Law in the Venezuela Crisis, EJIL: Talk! (Jan. 13, 2026)
  4. Julian Arato & Justina Uriburu, Trump’s Illegal Attack on Venezuela and Its Consequences, EJIL: Talk! (Jan. 5, 2025)

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