What’s New in Public Law

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–Nicola Abate, Ph.D. Candidate at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona

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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 turned down a plea from Mark Meadows to transfer his Georgia election interference prosecution to federal court.
2. The immigration section of Rome’s tribunal on Monday referred the case concerning a second group of migrants taken to a new Italian-run centre in Albania to the European Court of Justice, suspending the validation of their detention.
3. An High Court of Tokio ruled that Japan’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional as it violates Article 14(1) and Article 24(2) of the Constitution.
4. The Mexican Supreme Court rejected the concepts of invalidity exposed in the appeals to constitutional reform in judicial matters.
5. The Colombian Constitutional Court protected the rights to due process and habeas data of a TikTok user who had his account suspended due to erroneous age information.
6. The Italian Constitutional Court ruled that the question of the constitutionality of the whole law on the differentiated autonomy of the ordinary regions was unfounded, but that some provisions of the same legislative text were illegitimate.
7. The Colombian Constitutional Court ruled that the requirement of vaccination against COVID-19 as a condition for employment does not meet the requirements of equality and is discriminatory.

In the News

1. The Dominican Republic has amended its Constitution to constrain presidential reelection.
2. The European Parliament wants all countries to contribute financially to climate action.
3. US Vice President JD Vince says US could drop support for NATO if Europe tries to regulate Elon Musk’s platforms.
4. Italy’s president censures Trump appointee Musk after autocracy remarks
5. The leaders of Germany’s major parties have agreed to hold a federal election on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025.
6. French Prosecutors request ban on Marine Le Pen running for public office in embezzlement trial.
7. President-elect Donald Trump’s appointments for the next US administration.

New Scholarship

1. N. Barber, What’s The Point of Constitutional Monarchy? (the authorexamines the point of constitutional monarchy as a form of leadership).
2. J. De Coninck, The EU’s Human Rights Responsibility Gap (the author reflects about the international and EU human rights responsibility frameworks).
3. N. Aroney, Courts In Federal Systems: Federalism Disputes, Interpretive Modalities And Scales Of Political Salience (the author presents a methodological approach to the comparative study of courts in federal systems).
4. G. Martinico, D. Mier Galera, The illiberal challenge to judicial independence: the contribution of international tribunals (the article explores how international courts can contribute, albeit in a limited way, to defending the independence of national judges against the onslaught of illiberal governments).
5. G. Duke, A Constitution of Values? Principles and Values in the Commonwealth Constitution  (the author seeks  seek to clarify the terms of the debate by defending a distinction between constitutional principles and extra-legal values).
6. G. Singalet, Notwithstanding Judicial Review: Legal and Political Reasons Why Courts Should Not Review Laws Invoking Section 33 (the author reviews the legal and political reasons why courts should not review the substance of laws invoking the Charter’s “notwithstanding clause”).
7. R. Briffault, Buckley v. Valeo’s Dubious yet Durable Contribution-Expenditure Distinction (the paper analyzes why the contribution-expenditure distinction, a doctrine so problematic in both theory and practice, continues to be a basic principle of campaign finance law, and its prospects going forward).
8. S. Verdugo, How Can Courts Encourage Constitutional Replacement? (this essay shows that courts can help establish the conditions for constitutional change by encouraging the demand for such change).
9. S. Qudrat Hashimy, Constitutions Without Constitutionalism: Reflections on Afghanistan’s Failed Constitutions (this article examines the failure of Afghan constitutions, focusing on the 1923, 1964, and 2004 ones).

Calls for Papers and Announcements

1. The 2025 ICON•S Annual Conference Call for Submissions is open.
2. The University of Zurichlooking for postdoc collaborator for the  project “Decades of Peace”.
3. The call for the European Graduate Network 2025 hosted in Barcelona is open. Deadline: 20th of December 2024.
4. On 27^th November there will be the PhD information session of the EUI Law Department: ASPIRE Programme.
5. Nuffield College and the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford intend to appoint jointly, with effect from 1 September 2025, up to three Postdoctoral Prize Research Fellows (PPRFs) in Politics. Deadline: 5 December 2024.
6. Call for papers on Judicial Politics by law scholars for the 15th Annual Conference of the European Political Science Association (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, 26 – 28 June 2025). Deadline: 18 December 2024.

Elsewhere Online

1. Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer shares advice on being a judge and a lawyer.
2. N. Steytler, South Africa’s Government of National Unity: Power Sharing in a Fractured Democracy.
3. J. Weiler gave advice to Early Career Scholars involvement in edited books.
4. European Scholars call for an ex ante review of EU legislation for enhancing fundamental rights protection.
5. The debate on Europe’s Foundation and its Future with special focus on the EU Charter in Focus is hosted by Verfassungsblog.
6. Á. Álvarez Díaz, L. González and M. Nazareno, The Last Check on Presidential Power? Governors and their Limits to Democratic Backsliding in Argentina and Brazil.
7. The last episode of the podcast “Supreme Betrayal” on the constitutional future after the 2024 Presidential Election is available.