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What’s New: Week of June 29

— Vrishti Shami, Affiliate Research Fellow, Dr. Ambedkar Chair on Constitutional Law and Social Inclusion, NALSAR University, Hyderabad

— Osama Noor, Law Clerk-cum-Research Associate, Supreme Court of 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 held that the right to walk on demarcated footpaths falls within the scope of the fundamental right to life, protected under article 21 of the Constitution, and that public authorities have a corresponding duty to provide and maintain safe pedestrian infrastructure, which must be accorded priority over motorised traffic.
  2. The US Supreme Court has held that the scope of the Alien Tort Statute of 1789 is limited to a narrow set of claims defined by legislative intent, and that the Torture Victim Protection Act 1991 does not permit suits based on aid and abetment of torture. This decision makes more difficult for foreign litigants to bring claims in US courts for serious violations of international law.
  3. Japan’s Supreme Court has affirmed lower court rulings that ordered the dissolution of the Unification Church over tortious acts violating the Civil Code. The Court held that the ruling did not violate the constitutional right to freedom.
  4. Kenya’s High Court upheld the impeachment of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, holding that Parliament acted within its constitutional mandate, while finding that his right to a fair hearing had been violated and awarding him compensation. The judgment has been challenged before the Court of Appeal.
  5. The Bulgarian Constitutional Court has held that a National Assembly Resolution which required the Council of Ministers to submit legislation ratifying Bulgaria’s accession to the Charter of the Board of Peace is unconstitutional. All 12 judges unanimously ruled that the National Assembly exceeded its powers in passing the Resolution, and reiterated the principle of separation of powers.

In the News

  1. The Swedish Parliament passed a new immigration law allowing authorities to revoke immigrants’ residence permits on grounds of bad behaviour such as unpaid debts, undeclared employment, links to extremist organisations, and failure to follow public decisions, among others.
  2. Ghana hosted a three-day conference to advance the adoption of the UN Resolution declaring Transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans as the gravest crime against humanity. The Conference was attended by African and Caribbean nations. The countries demanded formal apologies, debt relief and financial compensation as part of reparations.
  3. Luxembourg has amended the Constitution to protect reproductive rights, including access to voluntary abortions. The first vote to amend the constitution took place in March 2026, and the amendment was finalised after the second and final vote in the Chamber of Deputies.
  4. The Hungarian Parliament has passed an amendment limiting prime ministers’ terms in office to eight years.
  5. The Parliament of Canada enacted Bill C-11, which requires that all sexual offences involving military members be handled exclusively by civilian courts and police rather than the military justice system. The bill received royal assent before the House rose for summer on 18 June 2026.

New Scholarship

  1. Aymen Mohammed, ‘Political Justice in the Constitution and the Imminent Delimitation’ 61(24) Economic & Political Weekly (13 June 2026)
  2. Lorraine Wu, ‘Sham Interim Constitutions’, 4(4) Comparative Constitutional Studies (2026)
  3. Thomas P. Schmidt and  Gillian E. Metzger, ‘Some Realism About Constitutional Remedies’ 139(8) Harvard Law Review (2026)
  4. Pablo Rueda Saiz, ‘Normative Divergence in the Implementation of the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention in Latin America’ 64 Columbia Journal of Transnational Law (2026)
  5. Humberto Antonio Sierra Porto, et al, Introduction to Columbian Constitutional Law (Universidad Externado de Colombia, 2026)
  6. Amir Cahane, ‘Future-Proofing Israeli Surveillance Law: Past, Present and Future‘ Israel Law Review 1-33 (2026)
  7. Benjamin Keener and Keith E. Whittington, ‘Demystifying Birthright Citizenship’ SSRN, (15 June 2026)
  8. Pranoto Iskandar, ‘Mistranslating constitutional law? Hukum tata negara as vernacular constitutional law’ International Journal of Constitutional Law (21 June 2026)
  9. Raymond A Atuguba, ‘Neo-democracy: Legal empowerment and the reincarnation of democracy in Africa’ International Journal of Constitutional Law (21 June 2026)

Calls for Papers and Announcements

  1. The Centre for Comparative Constitutional Law Studies, Melbourne Law School invites submissions for the Asian Constitutional Law Forum to be held on 7th & 8th December 2026.
  2. The Law and Society Association at Stanford University invites submissions for its Tenth Conference for Junior Researchers on ‘Technology, Social Change, and Law’. The deadline for submissions is 31 July 2026.
  3. The University of Liverpool invites submissions for its conference on ‘International Cooperation under the European Convention on Human Rights: Sources, limits, and enforceability of State obligations’. The deadline for abstract submissions is 3 July 2026.
  4. Dr B.R. Ambedkar National Law University, India, in collaboration with Georgia State University, USA invites submissions on public law and public policy for its conference on ‘Asymmetries in Public Policy: Institutional Design and the Impact of Localism’. Thedeadline for submission of abstracts is 30 June 2026.
  5. The Austrian Review of International and European Law (ARIEL) invites longer articles and shorter notes for its Volume 31 (2026) on the theme of ‘peace and security’ in international law. Submissions will be accepted until 30 October 2026.
  6. The Maastricht Centre for Law & Jurisprudence (MCLJ) invites abstracts for its Annual Conference 2027 on the theme “Future Normativities: The Foundations of Law and Political Community”, to be held on 29 January 2027 at Maastricht University, the Netherlands. Abstracts may be submitted until 16 October 2026.

Elsewhere Online

  1. Alan Greene, Daniella Lock and Colin Murray, ‘The Judiciary Exits the Scene: The Palestine Action Ban in the England and Wales Court of Appeal’ Verfassungsblog (18 June 2026)
  2. Sami Abdelhalim Saeed and Alemayehu Fentaw Weldemariam, ‘Unconstitutional Change After Constitutional Breakdown: Coups and the Crisis of Legitimacy in the African Union’ IACL-AIDC Blog (23 June 2026)
  3. Ezgi Yildiz, Umut Yüksel and Collin Lucken, ‘The Chișinău Declaration in the Data: Non-Refoulement and States’ Insatiable Appetite for a Restrained Court’ EJIL:Talk! (19 June 2026)

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