What’s New in Public Law

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–Swapnil Tripathi, Attorney, India

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Developments in Constitutional Courts

1. The Burundi Constitutional Court ruled that President-elect Evariste Ndyaishimiye should be sworn-in as soon as possible.
2. The Supreme Court of India allowed the Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath (procession) subject to strict guidelines.
3. The Ukraine Constitutional Court declared Article 375 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code as unconstitutional, which provided for the liability of judges for the “delivery of a knowingly unfair judgment.”
4. The United States Supreme Court held that President Trump’s move to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) Programme which granted protection to immigrants from deportation, is arbitrary and capricious under Federal Administrative Procedure Act.
5. The United States Supreme Court held that an individual who fails in securing asylum, cannot challenge his removal in the Federal Court.

In the News

1. Armenia passed a Constitutional Amendment which retrospectively imposes a term limit of 12 years on Judges of the Constitutional Court.
2. Georgia Legislature passed a Bill that shall impose stricter penalties for targeting a victim based on race, color or any other type of bias.
3. Luiz Fux appointed as the Chief Justice of the Brazil Supreme Court.
4. Merab Turava appointed as the new Chair of the Constitutional Court of Georgia.
5. Dr. Stephan Harbarth appointed as the President of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany.
6. Russia votes on the Constitutional Reform which limits a president’s rule to two six-year terms in total, rather than two consecutive terms.

New Scholarship

1. Jens Peter Christensen, The Constitution, in Peter Munk Christiansen, Jørgen Elklit, Peter Nedergaard (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Danish Politics (2020) (examining the Constitutional Act of Denmark, its history, evolution and relevance)
2. Hanretty Chris, A Court of Specialists: Judicial Behaviour on the UK Supreme Court (2020) (arguing that the UK Supreme Court is a court of specialists, and despite sitting in panels of five, seven or nine, the majority of its work is carried out by individual specialists on the Bench)
3. Mathew Idiculla, Unpacking Local Self-Government: The Uncertain Power of Cities in the Indian Constitution, VRU WCL (2020) (examining the legal authority of city governments in India’s constitutional architecture and analyses the nature and extent of powers exercised by them)
4. Toni Massaro et al., Constitutional Norms for Pandemic Policy, Arizona Legal Studies Discussion Paper No. 20-29 (suggesting four constitutional principles to shape pandemic policies and enable them to garner broad public acceptance)
5. Constantina Tridimas and George Tridimas, Is the UK Supreme Court Rogue to Un-Rogue Parliament?, European Journal of Law and Economics  (2020) (applying the Collective Choice Theory, to review the Supreme Court’s decision in R (on the application of Miller) v. the Prime Minister

Calls for Papers and Announcements

1. The International Forum on the Future of Constitutionalism invites all to register for the online course “Judging in Times of Crisis: Conversations with High Court Judges around the World,” featuring Supreme and Constitutional Court judges from Brazil, Canada, the Caribbean, Italy, Portugal, South Africa, and Taiwan.
2. Campus Law Centre (Faculty of Law), University of Delhi (India) has issued a Call for Papers for its Journal of Campus Law Centre. The last for submission is 31 July 2020.
3. The International Forum on the Future of Constitutionalism invites participants to register for the course “The Future of Liberal Democracy: Global Dialogues with Leading Scholars”. The six-week course will be held live on Zoom starting on July 22, 2020.
4. The European State Aid Law Quarterly has issued a Call for Papers for its Issue 4. The last date for submissions is 14 August 2020.
   
5. The National Law University, Jodhpur has issued a Call for Papers for its Comparative Constitutional Law and Administrative Law Quarterly (Volume 5.1). The last date of submissions is 15 July 2020.
6. The Utrecht University School of Law has issued a Call for Papers for its Utrecht Law Review.
7. The University of New Hampshire Law Review has issued a Call for Abstracts for its Annual Symposium titled ‘Rights and Responsibilities: Judicial & Legislative Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic’. The Symposium is to be held on 23 October 2020. The last date of submissions is 1 September 2020.

Elsewhere Online

1. Gallen Emma, Abortion is now legal in Northern Ireland – but why aren’t procedures actually being carried out?, Telegraph.
2. Ghose Sanjay, The Judge who unseated a Prime Minister, The Leaflet.
3. Izobo Mary, Abiodun Folasade, Enforcement of lockdown regulations and law enforcement brutality in Nigeria and South Africa, Afric Law.
4. McCrudden Christopher, Democracy, protests and Covid-19: The Challenge of (and for) Human Rights, UK Constitutional Law Association.
5. Sumner Cate and Lister Leisha, The Long wait in Indonesia for a Female Chief Justice in a Top Court, Lowy Institute.
6. Tripathi Swapnil, Revisiting the Infamous Emergency & Its Impact on the Legal Community, Live Law.
7. Wakene Dagnachew, The ‘forgotten tribe’: Persons with disabilities in Ethiopia and the State’s response to COVID-19, Afric Law.