What’s New in Comparative Public Law

–Mohamed Abdelaal, Alexandria University (Egypt)

In this weekly feature, I-CONnect publishes a curated reading list of developments in comparative 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 comparative public law blogosphere.

To submit relevant developments for our weekly feature on “What’s New in Comparative Public Law,” please email contact.iconnect@gmail.com.

Developments in Constitutional Courts

1. The Turkish Constitutional Court ruled that Twitter ban violates free speech.
2. The Bulgarian Constitutional Court initiates proceeding over President’s decree.
3. The Armenian Constitutional Court publishes its final verdict on funded pension
4. The US Supreme Court refuses to overturn Arizona marijuana ruling ordering the Yuma County sheriff to return marijuana that was seized from a woman with a medical authorization.
5. The US Supreme Court rules that limits on the total amount of money individuals can give to candidates, political parties and political action committees are unconstitutional.
6. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upholds NYC ban on religious services in schools.
7. A United States federal court ruled the Florida’s purge of non-citizens from the voter rolls in 2012 violated federal voting laws.

New Scholarship

1. Eduardo Jordao & Susan Rose-Ackerman, Judicial Review of Executive Policymaking in Advanced Democracies: Beyond Rights Review, 66(1) Administrative Law Review (2014) (a critical review lawmaking in the United States, Canada, Italy and France arguing that courts can reconcile the competing dimensions of executive legitimacy, rights, democratic responsiveness and competence.)
2. Andrew James Green, Can There Be Too Much Context in Administrative Law? Setting the Standard of Review in Canadian Administrative Law, 47 UBC Law Review (Forthcoming) (examines the shift of the Canadian Supreme Court regarding from a formal to a contextual approach regarding how deferential the court is to be to the executive decision-maker.)
3. Thomas Gibbons, Building Trust in Press Regulation: Obstacles and Opportunities, 5(2) Journal of Media Law (2014), (argues that building trust between the press and its users is a crucial pillar of political and constitutional recognition of freedom of the press and offers suggestions for a more positive approach to create structures that will encourage the development of public trust.)
4. Yaniv Roznai, Legisprudance Limitations on Constitutional Amendments? Reflections on The Czech Constitutional Court’s Declaration of Unconstitutional Constitutional Act, 8(1) International Constitutional Law Journal (2014) (addresses the question  whether the Czech Constitutional Court has an authority to review constitutional norms through examining its decision regarding the unconstitutionality of Act no 195/2009 Coll, on Shortening the Fifth Term of Office of the Chamber of Deputies)
5. John Yoo, The Legality of the National Security Agency’s Bulk Data Surveillance Programs, Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy (Forthcoming), (examines the puzzle surrounding the federal government’s electronic surveillance program regarding its effectiveness and constitutionality.)
6. Eljalill Tauschinsky & Maarten Den Heijer, Where Human Rights Meet Administrative Law: Essential Elements and Limits to Delegation: European Court of Justice, Grand Chamber C-355/10: European Parliament v. Council of the European Union, 3(9) European Constitutional Law Review (2013), (examines Case C-355/10: European Parliament v. Council of the European Union regarding migrants at sea, Frontex maritime operations , and fundamental rights.)

In the News

1. Verdict date set by an Egyptian Military Court for leaks of video and audio recordings of former minister of defence Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.
2. British Prime Minister orders investigation of Muslim Brotherhood.
3. Australia’s top court recognizes “gender neutral” sex category.
4. France has a new Prime Minister as of since April 2.
5. Nigerian Senate divided over proposal to allow President initiate Constitution Amendment.
6. States‘ demand builds for convention’ to amend the US Constitution.

Call for papers

1. The University of Cambridge’s Faculty of Law and its Centre for Public Law will host a major international conference on Public Law (September 15-17, 2014).
2. The AALS Section on Children and the Law announces a Call for Papers for its program during the AALS 2015 Annual Meeting that will take place on Jan. 2-5, 2015, in Washington, DC.
3. The RGNUL Student Law Review of the Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab invites submissions for its new volume.
4. Asian Journal of Law and Society Cambridge University Press and KoGuan Law School, Shanghai Jiao Tong University launches a call for papers for its new issue.
5. Indian Journal of Legal Philosophy (IJLP) invites submissions for Vol. 2 Issue 2, April-June 2014.

Elsewhere on Blogs

1. Kim Lane Scheppele, Hungary: An Election in Question, New York Times
2. Ashby Jones, Federal Appeals Court Throws out Ruling on Lethal Execution Drugs, Wall Street Journal Law Blog
3. Ruthann Robson, Second Circuit Holds NYC Can Ban Religious Services in School Buildings, Constitutional Law Prof Blog
4. Ilya Shapiro, Symposium: The First Amendment’s protection of political speech extends to both donations and spending, SCOTUSblog
5. Will Baude, Where do the Supreme Court’s campaign finance cases come from?, The Volokh Conspiracy
6. Gerard Magliocca, The Constitutional Convention Countdown, Concurring Opinions Blog
7. Lissa Griffin, Japan: Retrial Granted in 1966 Capital Case, Comparative Law Prof Blog