What’s New in Public Law

–Angélique Devaux, Cheuvreux Notaires, Paris, France, Diplômée notaire, LL.M. Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law

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

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

Developments in Constitutional Courts

1. The Canadian Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional a law that banned expatriates from voting in federal elections.
2. The Japanese Supreme Court ruled surgery to change legal sex identity is constitutional.
3. The Supreme Court of the United States let stand a ban on transgender people from serving in the Army.
4. The Kenyan Supreme Court ruled that schools can regulate their dress code—including prohibiting the hijab—to ensure uniform compliance.
5. The Iraqi Federal Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional some parts of the National Oil Company Law.

In the News

1. The Supreme Court of the United States will review a New York city gun law restricting its residents from transporting their guns outside their homes.
2. The President of Ivory Coast does not rule out competing in next year’s presidential election.
3. The EU urged Venezuela to hold free, transparent and credible presidential elections.
4. American President Donald Trump agreed to end the federal shutdown without securing money for a border wall.
5. Angola’s Parliament approved a new penal code that decriminalizes homosexuality.
6. An Iowa State judge ruled the ’fetal heartbeat’ abortion law unconstitutional.

New Scholarship

1. The new issue of the Revista de Investigações Constitucionais – Journal of Constitutional Research (vol.. 5, n.. 3, 2018), features a special symposium section on the 30th Anniversary of the Brazilian Constitution. This special anniversary issue is co-edited by Richard Albert, Sofia Ranchordas and Mariana Velasco Rivera.
2. Christopher Hunt, Lorne Neudorf & Micah Rankin (eds.), Legislating Statutory Interpretation: Perspectives from the Common Law World (2018) (collecting essays reflecting on the roles of the legislature and judiciary in relation to statutory interpretation, and in particular, how and to what extent parliaments direct judges who may otherwise enjoy interpretive discretion)
3. Dominic de Cogan, Tax Law and State-Building : A Constitutional Introduction, University of Cambridge Faculty of Law Research Paper 2019 (examining the role of tax in the contemporary UK constitution)
4. Sionaidh Douglas-Scott, Scotland, Secession, and the European Union, Queen Mary School of Law, Legal Studies Research Paper 2019 (discussing Scotland’s relationship with EU in the event of Scotland’s secession from the UK and in the context of a UK in-out referendum on EU membership).
5. Conor Casey, The Constitution Outside the Courts – The Case for Parliamentary Involvement in Constitutional Review, Irish Jurist (forthcoming) (studying parliamentary involvement in constitutional review with a focus on Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom)
6. Bruno Zeller, Leon Trakman, Robert Walters, Sinta Dewi Rosadi, The Right to be Forgotten – The EU and Asia Pacific Experience (Australia, Indonesia, Japan and Singapore), European Human Rights Law Review ( 2019) (exploring the right to be forgotten in the EU and Asia Pacific)
7. Dele Babalola, The Political Economy of Federalism in Nigeria (Palgrave Macmillan 2019) (examining the relative failure of federalism in Nigeria)
8. Sharon Yadin, Shaming Big Pharma, 36 Yale Journal on Regulation Bulletin (2019) (analyzing the FDA’s new initiative to publish a list of drug companies suspected of improper behavior)
9. Graham Butler and Gavin Barrett, Europe’s Other’ Open-Border Zone: The Common Travel Area under the Shadow of Brexit, 20 Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies (2018) (analyzing the development of the Common Travel Area, its idiosyncrasies and the direction in which it may develop post-Brexit)

Calls for Papers and announcements

1. Professor Alexander Tsesis welcomes proposals for books in his new series at Cambridge University Press, “Cambridge Studies on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.” This series is a platform for original scholarship on US civil rights and civil liberties. It produces books on the normative, historical, judicial, political, and sociological contexts for understanding contemporary legislative, jurisprudential, and presidential dilemmas. The aim is to provide experts, teachers, policymakers, students, social activists, and educated citizens with in-depth analyses of theories, existing and past conditions, and constructive ideas for legal advancements. The series currently has 11 forthcoming titles, some already announced here.
2. McGill University’s Faculty of Law and the Peter Mackell Chair in Federalism invite submissions of an an original essay on any aspect of federal theory or practice in the Baxter Family Competition on Federalism.
3. The European Equality Law Network invites authors to submit articles on EU gender equality and non-discrimination law for the two 2019 issues of the European Equality Law Review.
4. The Editorial Committee of the African Law Review Journal (ALR) invites submission of articles, legal opinions and case notes for the second issue of the Journal.
5. The Australian Law Journal calls for papers on religious freedom after Ruddock for a conference to be held on 6th April 2019 in Brisbane.

Elsewhere Online

1. James Freeman, Elizabeth Warren’s Unconstitutional Wealth Tax, Walt Street Journal
2. Charlton Copeland, What Does the SCOTUS ruling on the transgender military ban mean?, University of Miami
3. Patrick Sherry, India Needs Legislation to Combat Religious Violence, Jurist
4. Maryhen Jimenez Morales, Demystifying the Democratic Transition in Venezuela, Verfassungblog
5. Robert Craig, Could the Government Advise the Queen to Refuse Royal Assent to a Backbench Bill?, UK Constitutional Law Association