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What’s New: Week of October 20

—Gonen Ilan, Ph.D Candidate, Bar-Ilan University, Israel

—Sarthak Sahoo, Undergraduate Student of Law, Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab

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 Constitutional Court of Uganda has upheld the rules permitting judges to impose cash deposit conditions for bail.
  2. The Constitutional Court of Albania has temporarily suspended a law fast-tracking elections in the municipality of Tirana, in a case brought about by the municipality’s former mayor, who was arrested earlier this year.
  3. The Constitutional Court of Lithuania has held that a law stripping away citizenship conferred by exception (or merit) where the person holds another citizenship, is valid.
  4. The Supreme Federal Court of Brazil rejected a request by former President Jair Bolsonaro to release him from house arrest for interfering with an investigation into an alleged coup attempt by him.
  5. The European Court of Human Rights upheld Italy’s decision to annul a birth certificate with same sex parents, holding it compatible with the right to respect for private and family life.

In the News

  1. Over the last week, the International Court of Justice concluded hearing oral arguments on whether International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention No. 87 protects the right to strike.
  2. On 13 October 2025, Kenya’s parliament passed a bill authorizing the central bank as ‘the licensing authority for issuance of stablecoins and other virtual assets’ to regulate cryptocurrencies and increase investments.
  3. On 13 October 2025, South African magistrates in Durban held symbolic protests during lunch hours, demanding higher wages and better working conditions.
  4. On 14 October 2025, a bill was introduced in the UK Parliament stipulating that immigrants must qualify for A-level English language requirements.
  5. On 15 October 2025, Ghana’s parliament passed a bill criminalizing homosexuality with imprisonment for up to three years.

New Scholarship

  1. Anastasia Iliopoulou-Penot, ‘Governing the ‘Governors’ of online speech: a review of the Digital Services Act’s first steps in regulating social media platforms’ (2025) Yearbook of European Law
  2. Martin Acheampong, ‘Legislators between the throne and the house: Traditional authority and the constituency focus of Ghanaian MPs’ (2025) Parliamentary Affairs
  3. Illya Somin, ‘How Speech-Based Immigration Restrictions Threaten Academic Freedom’ (2025) George Mason Legal Studies Research Paper No. LS 25-18; in Lee Bollinger and Geoffrey Stone (eds), Academic Freedom in the Era of Trump OUP (forthcoming)
  4. International Committee of the Red Cross, ‘Autonomous Weapon Systems and International Humanitarian Law: Selected Issues’ (October 2025)
  5. Michael B. Rappaport, ‘Reconciling the Unitary Executive and the Opinions Clause’ (2025) San Diego Legal Studies Paper No. 25-037

Calls for Papers and Announcements

  1. Submissions for the 12th ICON•S Annual Conference, which will be hosted by the University College Dublin (UCD) Sutherland School of Law and jointly organized by the UCD Center for Constitutional Studies.
  2. The Cambridge International Law Journal invites submissions for Volume 15, Issue 1 by 4 November 2025, to be published in June 2026.
  3. The University of Cape Town will host a conference in July 2026 on ‘Public Law and the Future of Constitutional Democracy’. Abstract submissions are open until 14 November 2025.
  4. The Military Law and the Law of War Review invites submissions for Volume 64, Issue 1 by 15 November 2025, to be published in June 2026.
  5. The International Review of the Red Cross invites abstracts for a thematic edition on ‘Before War: Prepare to Comply with International Humanitarian Law’ by 1 December 2025, with paper submissions by 22 May 2026.
  6. Lund University’s Faculty of Law and Utrecht University’s Research Platform for Equality Legal Studies invite submissions for a workshop on positive obligations and discrimination in the ECHR’s case law, at Lund University, on 4-5 June 2026. Paper proposals are due by 8 November 2025.

Elsewhere Online

  1. Jaime Kucinskas, ‘The Institutionalization of Loyalty Traps under the Trump’s Second Presidency‘, ICON-S-IL Blog (14 October 2025).
  2. Ben Sperry, ‘First Amendment Jurisprudence Should Reflect Economic Reality: Why Red Lion and Pacifica Must Fall’ (Truth on the Market, 14 October 2025)
  3. Dane Luo, ‘The Anomalous Islands of Public Interest Functions Immune from Judicial Review’ (UK Constitutional Law Association, 14 October 2025)
  4. Angéla Kóczé, ‘Codifying Belonging’ (Verfassungsblog, 15 October 2025)
  5. Jerry Leung and Seung Chan Rhee, ‘SunshineLoans Pty Ltd v ASIC: A Constitutional Dimension to Apprehended Bias?’ (AubPubLaw, 15 October 2025)

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