What’s New in Public Law

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—Benjamin Nurkić, PhD Candidate, Faculty of Law University of Tuzla and a member of the Constitutional Committee of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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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. In North Macedonia, from January 2025, citizens will be able to initiate proceedings in the Constitutional Court through e-mail.
2. Long-term observations involving the taking and recording of images under the North Rhine-Westphalia Police Act are incompatible with the Basic Law.
3. The Constitutional Court (MK) held a preliminary hearing of the Regent General Election Results Dispute (PHPU Bup) of East Halmahera Regency with case number 248/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on Friday, January 10, 2025. The hearing was conducted by Panel 3 chaired by Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat, accompanied by Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih, and Constitutional Justice Daniel Yusmic P Foekh.
4. The Supreme Court of Georgia ordered approving amendments to Part V.  Post-Conviction Habeas Corpus Appeals; Original Petitions, Rule 36 (1) (Application for a Certificate of Probable Cause to Appeal).
5. The Kansas Supreme Court will conduct a special evening session on January 22 at the Kansas Statehouse as part of its ongoing outreach to familiarize Kansans with the court, its work, and the overall role of the Kansas judiciary.

In the News

1. A ‘ceremonial parade’ was held in Banja Luka on Thursday to mark ‘The Day of Republika Srpska’, which has been declared unconstitutional multiple times by the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
2. Susan Crawford and Brad Schimel face off in the 2025 election for a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat.
3. France presents the candidacy of Mr François Alabrune for the position of judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for the 2027-2036 term. This election will be held in New York in November 2026, both at the Security Council and at the United Nations General Assembly.
4. US Supreme Court lets Trump sentencing proceed in New York hush money case.
5. The federal Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday said it will hear Republican State appeals court Judge Jefferson Griffin’s elections case, where he’s seeking to invalidate more than 60,000 votes in the race for a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court.

New Scholarship

1. Sandra Cvikić (2024). Symbolic Violence, Site of Memory and Transitional Justice Reconciliation Framework in Vukovar (the aim of this article is to critically examine the transitional justice process of reconciliation in post-war Vukovar, focusing on symbolic violence and sites of memory).
2. Geoff Dancy and Oskar Timo Thoms (2024).Transitional Justice and the Problem of Democratic Decline  (this article theorizes six ways that transitional justice might contribute to democratic decline, or alternatively, to democratic progress).
3. Sara Azevedo (2024). The Role of Dilemmas in Law (this paper examines how the concept of dilemma is defined in moral philosophy and discusses whether and to what extent the proposals developed in that field can be imported into the legal world).
4. Maja Sahadžić (2024). The Post-conflict, Dysfunctional Federal System of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the entry gives an account of the post-conflict constitutional framework of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The first section gives a brief contextual reference regarding the emergence of the present system).
5. Naoual El Yattouti (2024). Religious dress in the healthcare setting: Unpacking legal arguments and balancing individual rights (This article explores the complex debate surrounding healthcare providers seeking to express their religious beliefs through the wearing of religious attire considering critical legal, ethical, and practical aspects).
6. Christian Cito Cirhigiri (2025). Toward a Transitional Justice Approach to Long-Term Protection of Civilians in the DR of Congo (research conducted between May and October 2021, based on 20 interviews with humanitarian and transitional justice actors in Kinshasa and victim groups in Goma, examines how transitional justice can recast three dimensions of the protection of civilians under the humanitarian toolkit: (1) accountability for affected civilians, (2) decolonization, and (3) community-based approaches towards a long-term goal).

Calls for Papers and Announcements

1. Call for Papers Young Scholars Workshop on ‘European Law and Digital Technologies Udine, 4-5 September 2025. Deadline is February 28, 2025.
2. Interested scholars are invited to submit an abstract to take part in a panel on ‘Conceptions of Democracy in Constitutional Adjudication’ at the 2025 IPSA World Congress, to be held in Seoul between 12 and 16 July 2025.
3. The Erasmus Center of Law and Digitalization (Erasmus School of Law) and the Amsterdam Law & Technology Institute (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) invite submissions for a workshop to be held on 3 & 4 June 2025. The deadline is 10 February 2025.
4. Call for abstracts for the Second SOS4Democracy conference ‘Law, Politics and Social Movements in Illiberal Times: Resistance, Reaction and Oppression’. The deadline is 14 February 2025.
5. Research Workshop on the Protection of Human Rights in the Context of Armed Conflict. The Centre for Fundamental Rights at the Hertie School, the Essex Armed Conflict and Crisis Hub and the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex, and the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict and the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights at the University of Oxford are inviting abstract submissions for one day research workshop to be held on 13 June 2025 at the Hertie School in Berlin, Germany. The deadline for submitting abstracts of no more than 500 words is 3 February 2025.

Elsewhere Online

1. Marlene Stiller, How the EU Commission Backs up Pushbacks at the EU-Belarussian Border, Verfassungsblog.
2. Felix Herbert, Territorial Concessions to the Aggressor, Verfassungsblog.
3. Jeong-In Yun, 2024 Martial Law in South Korea — The Crossroads Between Democratic Regression or Proof of Strong Democracy, IACL-AIDC Blog.
4. Sarthak Gupta, The Case of Caste-Based Discrimination in Indian Prisons: A New Constitutional Right to Overcome Prejudice?, IACL-AIDC Blog.
5. Ufuk Yeşil, Çamurşen v. Türkiye: Unresolved Issues in Yalçınkaya on Internet Traffic Data Retention Deferred, Strasbourg Observes.
6. Alexis Galand, J.B. v. Malta: The Systemic Consequences of Rule of Law Failures on Migrants’ Rights, Strasbourg Observes.