Category: hp
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New Report on Transitional Justice
The Reports section of this website features a new entry on transitional justice provisions in constitutional texts (see the Special Issue Domains tab). Surprisingly, very few constitutions actually mention transitional justice in any detail. A small number provide for Commissions for Truth and Reconciliation (e.g.
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Guest Post: Matsudaira on Japan Election
The Democratic Party (DPJ) of Japan, Japan’s new ruling party, has decided to abolish its policy department. In a notice given to its Diet members by Ichiro Ozawa, the party’s director general, the DPJ has prohibited its Diet members from directly proposing bills, within the exception of lawmaking regarding highly political issues, such as electoral…
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Why constitutional theory needs to be comparative and international
What’s wrong with mainstream constitutional theory? Among other things, it is neither comparative nor international, at a time when other countries and the international legal regime are in need of constitutionalization and might actually benefit from some applied theory. Here’s a rundown of the argument, with thanks to both the Constitution in 2020 and Balkinization…
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Guest Post on Constitutionalism in China: A Response to Tom
Tom has graciously invited me to respond to his recent posting on Chinese constitutionalism, and in particular to his reference to my forthcoming book with Stéphanie Balme. He may well regret it, because while he himself has described the book in most gracious terms, I must take exception with certain possible implications that could be…
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Whither Chinese Constitutionalism in the 21st Century?
China’s constitution has been described (by Professor Donald Clarke) as the least important document in the Chinese legal system. But constitutional discourse is clearly becoming more important in Chinese law politics, as highlighted by the recent high profile arrest and subsequent release of Xu Zhiyong, a lawyer associated with the Open Constitution Initiative.
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The Japanese Election: Much Ado About Very Little?
It’s rare for Japanese politics to get a lot of attention in the Western media, but this was admittedly no ordinary election. The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)’s trouncing of the Liberal Democratic Party on August 30 made the front page of the New York Times, the Washington Post, and so forth.
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State Constitutionalism and the Comparative Project
First, thanks to Zach Elkins and Tom Ginsburg, master scholars, impressarios of the great comparative constitutionalism project, and all-around good guys, for inviting me to guest blog on state constitutionalism and state con law. Second, by way of introduction, I am the Minerva House Drysdale Regents Chair in Law at the University of Texas, recently…
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Dignity, Death & the Depth of Comparative Engagement in the US
Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Montana heard argument in Baxter v. State of Montana (Case No. DA 09-0051), an appeal by the state of Montana against a decision by a district court judge, Judge Dorothy McCarter, recognizing a right to physician assisted suicide under the Montana state constitution.
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Quiet ending (for now) to the debate over judicial appointments in Israel
A couple of weeks after Justice Sotomayor’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court was confirmed, another, longer and more intense struggle over judicial appointments has reached its quiet ending, with the appointment of three new justices to the Supreme Court of Israel.
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More on the election campaign against conservative justices in Japan
As promised, Colin Jones has an interesting update on the public campaign to unseat a pair of sitting Supreme Court justices in the upcoming Japanese election. Thus far, in a nutshell, a retired Supreme Court justice is calling for the election defeat of two of his former colleagues in an advertising campaign that expressly uses…