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What’s New: Week of November 3

— Ashwani Kumar Singh, Assistant Professor of Law, Vinayaka Mission’s Law School, India.

— Olumide Opeyemi Toyinbo, Postgraduate Student, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Nigeria

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 Nepal refused to issue an interim order against the formation of the interim government and dissolution of the House of Representatives.
  2. The Supreme Court of Pakistan has reinforced women’s right to seek khula (unilateral divorce) and recognized psychological abuse as a valid ground for unilateral divorce.
  3. The Supreme Court of the United States is set to hear a case on 5 November 2025 that will determine whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA) authorises the President to impose tariffs and whether it constitutes an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power.
  4. The Constitutional Court of Kosovo has extended the interim suspension of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo’s August 2024 decision to appropriate over 13 hectares of municipal land in Gracanica Municipality for a development project, following a constitutional challenge by the municipality, until 30 January 2026.
  5. Nnamdi Kanu has filed a fresh motion before the Federal High Court, Abuja calling on the court to strike out all charges against him pursuant to Sections 1(3), 6(6)(b) and 36(12) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999. He argues that there is “no charge existing” against him under Nigerian law and contends that the proceedings are invalid and ought to be terminated.

In the News

  1. Justice Surya Kant has been appointed as the 53rd Chief Justice of India and will officially occupy the position with effect from November 24, 2025.
  2. Italy’s Parliament has approved a constitutional reform separating the careers of judges and prosecutors, aiming to enhance judicial impartiality by preventing role interchange; it is now subject to legislative ratification.  
  3. A quorum-busting boycott by over half the MPs halted a session of the Parliament of Lebanon, in protest of a law that restricts diaspora voting rights to just six seats, whereas previously they could vote for all 128 seats. Critics argue the law violates Article 7 of the Constitution of Lebanon, which guarantees equal civil and political rights for all Lebanese citizens.
  4. The proposed Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill No. 2 of 2025 seeks to amend the Constitution of Kenya by introducing a mechanism requiring additional special-seat members in both Houses of Parliament whenever the two-thirds gender rule (not more than two-thirds of either gender) is not met.
  5. Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape avoided facing a no-confidence motion because a constitutional amendment brought in March 2025 prohibits any subsequent no-confidence motion for 18 months after an unsuccessful no-confidence motion.

New Scholarship

  1. Aileen Kavanagh, Underuse of the Override (2025, Canadian Journal of Law & Jurisprudence: 1–40) (arguing that the underuse of the override is rooted in a set of unwritten constitutional norms requiring the branches of government to treat each other with comity and mutual respect—norms which preclude the legislature from regularly or lightly overriding court decisions).
  2. Jiunn-rong Yeh and Wen-Chen Chang, Changing Dynamics of Constitutional Progress and Regression in Asia: Interplay of Electoral, Civic, and Judicial Constitutionalism (2025, Constitutional Studies 11(1) 53-113) (examining the constitutional landscape in Asia and finds that a high level of constitutional dynamism has prevailed which is evidenced by frequent constitutional revisions or constitution-making efforts across the jurisdictions).
  3. Markus Bockenforde, (Unconstitutional) Constitutional Amendments in Africa: Mapping the Field (2025, Constitutional Studies, 11(1), 1-30) (reflecting on the unconstitutional constitutional amendment doctrine in Africa and its potential contribution to strengthening African constitutionalism).
  4. Richard Albert, Does Unamendability Ever Matter? (2026, Forthcoming in Andreas Voßkuhle et al. (eds.), The View from the Outside: International Perspectives on the German Federal Constitutional Court, Mohr Siebeck) (suggesting that unamendable constitutional rules matter only rarely, and in cases where they are backed by an authoritative court of last resort that is both willing and able to enforce them against non-compliant actors).
  5. Rosalind Dixon and Elisabeth Perham, Theorising Constitutions Comparatively (2025, Verfassung in Recht und Übersee 58(1):70-96) (suggesting that rigorous forms of comparative constitutional theorizing involve three key commitments: transparency in the jurisdictions relied on, symmetry between the countries chosen and the scope of theoretical claims made, and self-awareness or reflexivity on the part of scholars as part of this process).
  6. William Baude and Samuel L Bray, When the Executive Has Unclean Hands (2025, University of Chicago Law School, Public Law & Legal Theory Research Paper No. 25-46) (arguing that the unclean-hands doctrine applies to the executive, though in a modified form that reflects the relationships between officials in the executive branch, between the executive and legislative branch, and between the government and the people).

Calls for Papers and Announcements

  1. Macquarie University’s Environmental Law Research Centre and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Pacific Regional Office invite abstracts for an international conference ‘Securing justice for the planet: Opportunities for, and barriers to, course correction’. Abstracts are due by 7 November 2025.
  2. The Asian Law Institute (ASLI) invites submissions for its 23rd Annual Conference, Empowering Asia’s Rise: Legal Knowledge for Sustainability, Justice and Regional Integration. Abstracts are due by 15 November 2025.
  3. IACL invites submissions for 3rd IACL Junior Scholars Forum. Deadline: 28 November, 2025.
  4. The Teaching and Researching International Law in Asia (TRILA) Programme of the NUS Centre for International Law invites abstracts for the 10th TRILA Scholar Workshop, due by 30 November 2025.
  5. The Cambridge International Law Journal (CILJ) invites abstracts for the 15th Annual CILJ Conference. Abstracts are due by 31 December 2025.
  6. Comparative Constitutional Law and Administrative Law Journal (CALQ) of National Law University, Jodhpur invites submissions for Volume 10.1, by  9 December 2025.
  7. Constitutional Studies is now accepting submissions for its 2026 Issues.
  8. The University of Győr, Hungary is holding a conference on ‘The Transformative Effect of Digitalisation on the Work of Traditional Legal Professions – Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives’ on 7-8 November 2025, in Győr, Hungary.

Elsewhere Online

  1. Alemayehu Fentaw Weldemariam, The End of Good Faith Constitutionalism: The Insurrection Act and Its Global Echoes (ICONnect, 28 October 2025)
  2. Anderson Javiel Dirocie De León, Global Freedom of Expression | Book Review: Hate Speech and the European Court of Human Rights by Dr Natalie Alkiviadou (Global Freedom of Expression, 30 October 2025).
  3. Hsu Hui-feng, Taiwan’s constitutional court paralyzed by legislation it cannot review (Constitution Net, 28 October 2025)
  4. Ishie-Johnson Emmanuel and Oluwaleye Adedoyin Grace, The Interdependence of Judicial Independence on Financial Autonomy: A Legal and Institutional Analysis within the Nigerian Context (The Nigeria Lawyer, 25 October 2025)
  5. Matteo Paolanti, Italy’s Constitutional Gamble (VerfBlog, 30 October2025)
  6. Rosalind Englisj, Privacy v Freedom of Expression – in the South African bushveld (UK Human Rights Blog, 30 October 2025)
  7. Simon Kieser, Recognition Is Not Justice: What Australia’s River Law Reveals About Indigenous Rights (OxHRH Blog, 29 October 2025)
  8. Tanishq Desai, Why Is There a Price to Freedom? (Socio-Legal Review Forum, 24 October 2025)
  9. Tom Fleming and Hannah Kelly, The Modernisation Committee: Revisiting Past Experiences (Constitution Unit, 31 October 2025)

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