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. German Constitutional Court blocks the extradition of a hacker to U.S.
2. UK High Court rules prison book ban unlawful.
3. Turkish Constitutional Court considers 10 percent election threshold.
4. Illinois’ state pension overhaul ruled unconstitutional.
5. A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Indiana’s law that redefines abortion clinics is unconstitutional.

In the News

1. Nigeria rights groups seeking war crimes investigation.
2. China celebrates first Constitution Day.
3. China marks first “Constitution Day” as party maintains primacy.
4. China’s Communist party expelled its former security tsar, Zhou Yongkang.
5. The US Supreme Court hears arguments on threatening social media posts.
6. The US Supreme Court hears arguments on trademarks and sentencing.
7. US states challenge Obama immigration order.

New Scholarship

1. Jenia Iontcheva Turner, The Exclusionary Rule as a Symbol of the Rule of Law, Southern 67 Methodist University Law Review, 2014 (discussing the exclusionary rule in comparative perspective as a rule of law enforcement tool to hold the executive within the limits of the law and preventing government lawlessness)
2. Steven G. Calabresi & Bradley Silverman, Hayek and the Citation of Foreign Law, Michigan State Law Review, Forthcoming (exploring the use of citation of foreign law in U.S. courts, and concluding that foreign law should be cited where it is informative)
3. Jessica Bulman-Pozen & David Pozen, Uncivil Obedience, Columbia Law Review, Forthcoming (explaining and evaluating the phenomenon of uncivil obedience, and exploring tools that have emerged to limit its use)
4. Michal Bobek, Judicial Selection, Lay Participation, and Judicial Culture in the Czech Republic: A Study in a Central European (Non)Transformation, (Forthcoming in S Turenne (ed), The Independence of a Meritorious Elite: the Government of Judges and Democracy (Reports to the 19th International Congress of Comparative Law in Vienna, Springer, 2015) (discussing judicial selection and lay participation in the Czech judicial system)
5. Aneesa Walji, Constitution-Making in Egypt: The Role of Constitutional Court Judges, in Revolution as a Process: The Case of the Egyptian Uprising edited by Adham Hamed (Wiener Verlag für Sozialforschung, 2014) (examining the role of judges in Egypt’s second constitution-making process, and concluding that while there may be value to having judges formally involved in constitution building, much is at risk for judicial independence in the process.)

Calls for Papers

1. The International Journal of Legal & Social Studies (IJLSS) is now accepting submissions for its upcoming issue.
2. The Southern African Society of Legal Historians invites submissions for its annual conference to be held from 5-9 October 2015 at Sun City in Johannesburg. The conference theme is “Legislation in the Western legal tradition.”
3. The Irish Society of Comparative Law welcomes submissions for its annual conference to be held on 2-4 June, 2015 in the University of Limerick in Limerick, Ireland.
4. Política y gobierno invites submissions of articles, research notes, and bibliographical essays on the topic “Conflict, Violence, and Democracy in Latin America” to be included in a special bilingual issue that will be published on December 2015 (Vol. XXII, no. 1, 2016).
5. The student chapter of the American Constitution Society at Barry University School of Law issued a call for papers for the First Annual Constitutional Law Scholars Forum to be held on MARCH 20, 2015 at at the Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law Campus, Orlando, FL.

Elsewhere on Blogs

1. Jean-Marie Kamatili, Lèse-majesté in Thailand: The Rule of Law Crisis, Jurist
2. Ruthann Robson, Supreme Court Hears Arguments on “Facebook Threats” Case: Elonis v. US, Constitutional Law Prof Blog
3. Elizabeth LaForgia, Ruling would permit Florida same-sex marriages in January, Jurist
4. Mustafa Akyol, Constitutional Court as the new ‘coup’ HQ, Hurriyet Daily News
5. Joe Palazzolo, Civil Rights Investigations: How They Work, WSJ Law Blog