Author: Richard Albert
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One Year After: How the Romanian Constitutional Court Changed its Mind
–Bianca Selejan-Guţan, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Simion Bărnuţiu Faculty of Law July 2012 was the scene of the most important constitutional crisis in Romania since December 1989. I explored some salient aspects of the crisis in an earlier post on this blog.
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Facing l’etat d’exception: The Greek Crisis Jurisprudence
—Christina M. Akrivopoulou, Adjunct Lecturer, Democritus University of Thrace Greek courts have only recently attempted to control the Memoranda entered into between the Greek state and the European Union and IMF, which impose austerity measures on the country. This judicial self-restraint has mainly been due to the extreme severity of the financial crisis.
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Constitutional Writs as “Weapons” in Myanmar?
—Dr. Melissa Crouch, Postdoctoral Fellow, Law Faculty, National University of Singapore In 2011, Myanmar began its transition to democracy under a civilian-military led government. The process has taken place within the framework of the 2008 Constitution and it has been followed by a range of legal and institutional reforms.
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Ireland Considers Move to Unicameral Parliament
—Dr. Oran Doyle, Fellow, Trinity College, Dublin The Irish Government has proposed the abolition of the upper house of Parliament, the Seanad. The Thirty-Second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013 contains over 40 discrete amendments to the Constitution designed to abolish the Seanad, reconstitute the Oireachtas as a unicameral parliament, revise…
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Culture War in the Court: Reproductive Health Battle in the Philippines
—Anna Su, Baldy Postdoctoral Fellow, SUNY Buffalo Law School On July 9, 2013, the Philippine Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on a constitutional challenge lodged against the recently-enacted and widely-controversial Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012 (“RH Law”).
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Canada’s Longest-Tenured Chief Justice
Last week, Beverley McLachlin gave a rare interview to mark an historic occasion: she became Canada’s longest-serving Chief Justice. The country’s 17th Chief Justice, the Rt. Hon. Beverley McLachlin began her tenure in January 2000, when then-Prime Minister Jean Chretien elevated her from the rank of Associate Justice (known in Canada as a “Puisne” Justice).
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The British American Colonies and Comparative Subnational Constitutionalism
—Scott Douglas Gerber, Professor of Law, Ohio Northern University My most recent academic book is A Distinct Judicial Power: The Origins of an Independent Judiciary, 1606-1787 (Oxford University Press, 2011).[1] That book is the first comprehensive analysis of the origins of judicial independence in the United States.
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Showing Germans the Light
–Or Bassok, Tikvah Scholar, NYU School of Law Conferences in the US on German public law often digress into an attempt by Americans scholars to show their German counterparts the scholarly “light.” The recipe has several variations.[1] According to the milder version, German public law scholarship fails to give an adequate account of reality when it…
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Four Models of Politicized Judicial Selection
—Richard Albert, Boston College Law School Judges on national courts of last resort are generally appointed in politicized processes. Judicial selection is politicized when the choice rests on popular consent mediated in some way through elected representatives. We can identify four major models of politicized judicial selection in constitutional states: (1) executive unilateral appointment; (2)…
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Differencing Same-Sex Marriage
–Russell Miller, Washington & Lee University School of Law, Co-Author, The Constitutional Jurisprudence of the Federal Republic of Germany (2012), Co-Editor-in-Chief, German Law Journal As a comparative lawyer it is tempting to see a once-in-a-generation convergence of American and German constitutional law on what many regard as the era’s foremost civil rights issue: same-sex marriage.