What’s New in Public Law

—Davide Bacis, PhD Student in Constitutional Law, University of Pavia (Italy)

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 contact.iconnect@gmail.com.

Developments in Constitutional Courts

1. The Kenyan High Court upheld the constitutional rights to maternal dignity and reproductive healthcare.
2. The Constitutional Court of Bavaria ruled that the ban preventing judges from wearing headscarves is permissible.
3. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that the administration has the authority to pick up and detain immigrants for deportations at any time.
4. The Constitutional Court of Moldova declared the unconstitutionality of the provision establishing that the refusal of the criminal prosecution authorities to receive complaints can be challenged before the investigating judge no later than five days from the moment of refusal.
5. The Constitutional Court of Moldova held that the renunciation of appeals against ruling rejecting claims in payment-order proceedings is unconstitutional.
6. The European Court of Justice held that internal borders – even when border control has been reintroduced – cannot be equated to an external border.
7. The European Court of Human Rights rejected the request on interim measures for torture claims, arguing that those measures can be applied only  when there is an imminent risk of irreparable harm.

In the News

1. President Trump issued his first veto on Congress resolution rejecting the presidential declaration of national emergency.
2. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev succeeded Nursultan Nazarbayev, who resigned as President of Kazakhstan after almost 30 years in power.
3. The Speaker of the House of Commons ruled out another vote on Brexit deal, unless it is substantially different.
4. The Mexican President signed a vow that he will not change the constitutional limit of a single six-year term.
5. Theresa May informed the European Council that the UK is asking for an extension of Article 50 until June 30, 2019.
6. The Philippines has officially withdrawn from the International Criminal Court.
7. The Communication Committee of the Egyptian Parliament passed legislation to protect the right to privacy.

New Scholarship

1. MS. Kuo, Control by Aggregation? Critical Reflections on Global Constitutionalism in the Shadow of Looming Transnational Emergency Powers (2019) (rethinking the relationship between rights protection, global constitutionalism and aggregate powers preventing transnational governance).
2. M. St-Hilaire, P.F. Baud and E.S. Drouin, The Constitution of Canada as Supreme Law: A New Definition (2019) (proposing a new definition of the Canadian Constitution as supreme law).
3. G. Ablavsky, Empire States: The Coming of Dual Federalism (2019) (offering an alternate account on the development of federalism as a form of centralization).
4. C.E. Haupt, Sex and the First Amendment Through the Lens of Professional Speech (2019) (providing an interesting review of professional speech doctrine and how this doctrine might apply to future conflicts concerning reproductive rights and transgender healthcare).
5. D.S. Cohen, Silence of the Liberals: When supreme Court Justices Fail to Speak Up for LGBT Rights (2019) (arguing that, even if the Supreme Court repeatedly protected gay rights, the liberal justices of the Court remained silent on this specific topic). 
6. A. Stone, Freedom of Expression in Asia (2019) (offering a comprehensive outline of freedom of expression in Asian constitutions and arguing how the different approaches show how Asian constitutionalism has distinctive characteristics).
7. R. Leckey, Assisted Dying, Suspended Declarations, and Dialogue’s Time (2019) (recounting Quebec and Canada experiences with drafting legislations on assisted suicide).
8. R. Weill, T. Kritzman-Amir, Between Institutional Survival and Human Rights Protection: Adjudicating Landmark Cases of African Undocumented Migrants in Israel in a Comparative International Context (2019) (offering a complete analysis of Israeli case law on the rights of undocumented immigrants and arguing for a new approach to be taken by courts).
9. B.M. Wilson, C. Gianella, Overcoming the Limits of Legal Opportunity Structures: LGBT Rights’ Forking Paths in Costa Rica and Colombia (forthcoming) (providing an interest analysis of the different level of protection of LGBT rights in Costa Rica and Colombia).

Call for Papers and Announcements

1. The European Public Law Organization welcomes applications for the Academy of European Public Law, which will be held from August 26, to September 14, 2019 in Athens. Applications should be submitted by June 29, 2019 (April 20, 2019 for Early Bird applications).
2. The Investment Migration Council welcomes submissions for the “4^th Annual Investment Migration Conference: International Mobility of the Wealthy and Global Inequality”, to be held on June 3, 2019 in Geneva. Abstracts of no more than 500 words should be submitted by March 30, 2019.
3. The Rule of Law Monitoring Center, Warsaw, Poland, launched a new online resource on Rule of Law in Poland entirely in English.
4. The Italian Association of Comparative Law will hold its XXV Biennial Colloquium “Food Law: A Comparative Perspective”. The event will be held in Parma, on May 23-25, 2019.
5. The American Society of Comparative Law and the University of Missouri School of Law invite all interested scholars to submit panel or paper proposals for the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Comparative Law entitled “Comparative Law and International Dispute Resolution Processes”. The event will be held at University of Missouri School of Law on October 17-19, 2019. The deadline for submission is May 20, 2019.
6. The Spanish Association of International Law and International Relations Professors (AEPDIRI), in cooperation with the University of Granada welcome submissions for its 28^th Conference “A New World, A New Europe. Reshaping the European Union in the Era of Brexit” to be held on September 18-20, 2019, in Granada. Abstracts of 1000-1500 words, alongside a CV, shall be submitted by April 10, 2019.
7. The Spanish Association of International Law and International Relations Professors (AEPDIRI), in cooperation with the University of Castilla – La Mancha welcome submissions for the Jean Monnet International Conference “The European Union and Material and Immaterial Walls: Challenges for Security, Sustainability and the Rule of Law” to be held in Cuenca, on May 29-20, 2019. Abstracts of 1000-1500 words, alongside a CV, shall be submitted by April 1, 2019.

Elsewhere Online

1. D.R. Cameron, After House of Commons rejects Brexit deal again and no-deal exit and calls for Article 50 extension, Theresa May considers third vote – but the Speaker says no, Yale Macmillan Center
2. K. McCall-Smith, The Realities of Being Global: Treaty Law and Brexit, UK Constitutional Law Association
3. S. Lashyn, Brexit Means Brexit: Does it so When It Comes to EU Citizenship?, EJIL: Talk!
4. A. Alemanno, The Birth of Political Europe, Verfassungsblog
5. L. Kirchmair, Fight Fire with Fire – a Plea for EU Information Campaigns in Hungarian and Polish, Verfassungsblog
6. D. Guilfoyle, Part I – This is not fine: The International Criminal Court in Trouble, EJIL: Talk!
7. T. Van Poecke, The IHL Exclusion Clause, and why Belgian Courts Refuse to Convict PKK Members for Terrorist Offences, EJIL: Talk!
8. T.T. Koncewicz, L. Strother, The Role of Citizen Emotions in Constitutional Backsliding – Mapping Out Frontiers of New Research, Verfassungsblog
9. R. Hazell, B. Morris, O. Hepsworth, Comparing European monarchies: a conference first, The Constitution Unit