What’s New in Comparative Public Law

—Rohan Alva, Jindal Global Law School

Developments in Constitutional Courts

1. The U.S. Supreme Court declared that individuals in same-sex relations have a constitutional right to marriage.
2. The North Korean Supreme Court convicted two persons from South Korea on charges of spying against North Korea. The Court handed down a sentence of ‘indefinite labour’.
3. The U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a regulation authorizing law enforcement authorities to check ‘guest registries’ in hotels at any time.
4. The State Administrative Court, in Jakarta, Indonesia, declined to allow an appeal of a person convicted of trafficking drugs. The appeal had sought review of the President’s decision rejecting a grant of pardon.
5. The U.S. Supreme Court held that the federal government could validly grant subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.

In the News

1. The Sri Lankan President officially dissolved the nation’s Parliament, as a step towards seeking support for his plan for full-scale political reform.
2. The Greek Parliament voted in favour of a proposal to conduct a referendum on the question of Greece seeking a ‘bailout deal’ from institutions that have lent money to the nation. The referendum is scheduled for July 5, 2015.
3. In Australia, the Senate voted upon legislation seeking to combat ‘online piracy’. The Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Bill, 2015, empowers copyright holders to obtain the ‘blocking of websites’ which host content in a manner that infringes intellectual property rights.
4. In China, a probable legislation is under consideration which will require government officials to take an ‘oath of allegiance’.
5. The Senate of Ohio in the United States passed a bill prohibiting abortion after the twentieth week of pregnancy. Pro-choice proponents argue that the bill frustrates reasonable efforts to access abortions, even as pro-life proponents welcome its passage.

New Scholarship

1. Nicholas W. Barber, The Constitutional Regulation of Scottish Secession (assessing the key challenges which may arise in granting regions the right to secede from a union, and suggesting ways in which Scotland’s right of self-determination should be ‘regulated’)
2. Cheryl Saunders and Michael Crommelin, Reforming Australian Federal Democracy (University of Melbourne Legal Studies Research Paper No. 711) (analyzing the importance of protecting the federal structure of government in Australia, and advancing ‘ten principles’ for improving the federal division of power)
3. Or Bassok, South African Constitutional Doctors with Low Public Support (Constitutional Commentary, forthcoming, 2015) (reviewing Theunnis Roux’s The Politics of Principle: The First South African Constitutional Court, 1995-2005, and suggesting that the success of the Constitutional Court is attributable to the government acknowledging the Court’s expertise in adjudication)
4. Laurent Pech, The EU as a Global ‘Rule of Law Promoter’: The Consistency and Effectiveness Challenges (Asia Europe Law Journal, forthcoming, 2015) (critically analyzing the approach of the European Union to the ‘rule of law’, and highlighting particular measures which can improve the EU’s contribution towards its enhancement)
5. Patrick Yingling, Judicial Conventions: An Examination of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Rule of Four, 38(2) Dublin University Law Journal (forthcoming, 2015) (proposing that the ‘Rule of Four’ on the United States Supreme Court is a constitutional convention, and assessing the possibilites of such a theory affecting ‘constitutional change’ )

Elsewhere on the Internet

1. Alicia Parlapiano, Adam Liptak and Jeremy Bowers, The Roberts Court’s Surprising Move Leftward, The New York Times
2. Bharat Malkani, The Death Penalty for Foreign Nationals and Migrant Workers, Oxford Human Rights Hub
3. Amy Howe, In historic decision, Court strikes down state bans on same-sex marriage: In Plain English, SCOTUS Blog
4. Mark Kende, Comparative Matters: The Renaissance of Comparative Constitutional Law (book review), Law and Politics Book Review
5. Saranagan Rajeshkumar, Why the Collegium Will Revive if the NJAC is Struck Down, Indian Constitutional Law and Philosophy

Call for Papers and Announcements

1. Papers are invited for a special issue of the Federal Governance, on ‘Environment and Federalism: A multidisciplinary approach’. The deadline for submission of papers is the 15^th of October, 2015.
2. A call for papers has been issued by the Latin American Journal of International Trade Law, a new journal of the School of Law, National Autonomous University, Mexico. Papers should be submitted by the 3^rd of August, 2015.
3. Interested participants are invited to send in papers for a conference on ‘Competition, Standardization, and Innovation’, organized, by the Tilburg Law and Economics Center. The conference will be held on the 10^th and 11^th of December, 2015. Entries must be sent in by the 1^st of September, 2015.
4. The Anti-Discrimination Law Review invites submissions for the journal. Submissions may be in the form of articles, book reviews or case commentaries.
5. University of Jyväskylä, Finland is organising a conference on ‘Poverty’s Causes and Consequences in the Urban Developing World’, from the 4^th to the 6^th of August, 2016. Participants interested in particpating in conference sessions should send in a three hunderd word abstract by the 30^th of August, 2015.