What’s New in Public Law

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–Susan Achury, Miami University

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 Turkish Constitutional Court rejected application of convict prevented from calling His attorney, indicated that prison administrations have the authority to impose restrictions relating to these issues.
2. The Indian Supreme Court ruled that tests for COVID-19 must be free could stop private labs from boosting capacity, warn industry executives.
3. In Salvador, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice urged Congress and the government to create a formal law that regulates the arrests of citizens who do not comply with domicile quarantine for COVID-19.
4. The Brazilian Supreme Court prevented President Bolsonaro to decree end of social isolation.
5. The German Federal Constitutional Court rejected a challenge to a city’s ability to limit activities because of the coronavirus.
6. The German Federal Constitutional Court refused to lift a ban on a rally for the right to protest during the coronavirus lockdown. But it said the organizer was still free to lodge a constitutional complaint.
7. The Turkish Constitutional Court ruled protecting a journalist rights from the penalization of criticism against politics.  
8. Inter-American Court of Human Rights declared Peru responsible for torture and sexual violation of an LGBTI + person by police officers.
9. Constitutional Court of Spain reinforced the right to protection to the personal image in the  “Facebook photos” case.

In the News

1. The European Union’s top court ordered Poland on Wednesday to suspend a panel created to discipline judges, saying it was not independent and breached EU law.
2. In South Africa, Government has appointed a former Constitutional Court judge Kate O’Regan as the COVID-19 designate judge to protect the individual’s privacy and their personal information, acknowledging the risk of violation of their right to privacy during the coronavirus outbreak.
3. In Bolivia, a decree issued to respond to the COVID-19 emergency includes an overly broad provision that authorities could use to prosecute those who criticize government policies.
4. Ecuador’s former president Correa convicted on corruption charges.
5. Guinean President Alpha Conde has enacted a new constitution following a referendum last month on changes that opponents fear are aimed at extending his time in office.
6. In Spain, Vox considered challenging the Government in the Constitutional Court and will not support the expansion of the coronavirus alarm state.
7. In Spain, the defense of those convicted in the ‘procés’ challenged all justices of the Constitutional Court on the grounds that they lack impartiality to resolve the amparo remedies against the sentence that sentenced the independence leaders for a crime of sedition.

New Scholarship

1. Sara Drake, ‘The principle of primacy and the duty of national bodies appointed to enforce EU law to disapply conflicting national law. Common Market Law Review (2020) 57 (2) (analyzing the CJEU judgment C-378/17 The Minister for Justice and Equality, The Commissioner of An Garda Síochána v. The Workplace Relations Commission, referral from the Irish Supreme Court, confirming the scope of the principle of primacy).
2. Humberto Briceno Leon, The International Criminal Court: Interconnection Between International Bodies in Venezuela, 24 Lewis & Clark L. Rev. 261 (2020) (discussing the current International Criminal Court case regarding Venezuela’s alleged violations of fundamental human rights and other criminal violations of international law).
3. Oreste Pollicino and Laura Somaini, Online Disinformation and Freedom of Expression in the Electoral Context: The European and Italian Responses. Misinformation in referenda, Forthcoming (2020) (examining the constitutional paradigms of freedom of expression in the context of elections).
4. Daly, Eoin, Constitutionalism and Crisis Narratives in Post-Brexit Politics Political Studies (2020) (Analyzing the United Kingdom’s ad hoc constitutional arrangements to regulate expressions of popular sovereignty via referendums).
5. Mangala, Jack R, The Politics of Challenging Presidential Term Limits in Africa, Springer Nature (presenting the debate about the institution of presidential term limits in Africa, against the backdrop of global trends toward authoritarianism).
6. Doyle, Oran and Walsh, Rachael, Deliberative Mini-Publics as a Response to Populist Democratic Backsliding. Forthcoming chapter in Maria Cahill, Colm O’Cinneide, Seán Ó Conaill and Conor O’Mahony, Constitutional Change and Popular Sovereignty: Populism, Politics and the Law in Ireland, Routledge, 2020 (examining the role of deliberative mini-publics in strengthening Ireland’s constitutional culture by reinforcing anti-populist features democratic).
7. Kumar, Smarika and Riegner, Michael, Freedom of Expression in Diverse Democracies: Comparing Hate Speech Law in India and the EU. Forthcoming chapter in Philipp Dann and Arun Thiruvengadam, Democratic Constitutionalism in Continental Polities: EU and India compared, 2020, Cheltenham: Elgar, Forthcoming (Comparing free speech law in India and the  EU).

Call for Papers and Announcements

1. The Laureate Program in Constitutional Law, led by Professor Adrienne Stone, ARC Kathleen Fitzpatrick Australian Laureate Fellow, and funded by the Australian Research Council, has announced that applications for a Postdoctoral Fellowship are open. (February 2021 to 1 March 2022)
2. The Journal of Law, religion and State (JLRS, Brill) has issued a call for papers for an emergency special issue on Coronavirus and Religion. (Deadline May 1, 2020)
3. The International Association of Constitutional Law (IACL) call for paper for the ‘Democracy 2020’, Melbourne, 10-12 December 2020. (Deadline May 1, 2020)
4. The Eurac Research Institute for Comparative Federalism in Bolzano/Bozen (South Tyrol) welcome applications for the Federal Scholar in Residence Program 2021  (Deadline July 1, 2020)
5. Loyola University Chicago, School of Law is hosting the Eleventh Annual Constitutional Law Colloquium on November 6-7, 2020. (Deadline June 19, 2020)
6. The Justice System Journal has issued a call for papers for the special issue “Justice for All: Empirical Research on Indigent Defense.” (Deadline May 15, 2020) 
7. The Nevada Law Journal has issued a call for papers for a special issue of the Nevada Law Journal on “Race AND Gender AND Policing.” (Deadline May 5, 2020)
8. The Latin American Law Review invites to submit previously unpublished papers in Spanish or English (Deadline April 30, 2020)
9. The editorial team of Global Constitutionalism, invite paper proposals  for the now virtual Junior Scholars Workshop 2020: New Approaches to Global Constitutionalism. (Deadline May 1, 2020)

Elsewhere Online

1. Shamshad Pasarlay,Back to the Future: Why and How is Afghanistan Moving Towards a Constitutional Court?,IACL-IADC Blog
2. Syuzanna Vasilyan, Armenia’s Constitutional Referendum: Denting the Constitutional Court? ConstitutionNet
3. The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić, has issued a toolkit for governments across Europe on respecting human rights, democracy and the rule of law during the COVID-19 crisis. Council of Europe.
4. Gwen Burnyeat, Par Engstrom, Andrei Gómez Suárez, and Jenny Pearce, Justice after war: innovations and challenges of Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace. LSE blog
5. Amaral Arévalo and Clare Wenham, COVID-19 en El Salvador: de medidas sanitarias a la restricción de derechos, LSE blog
6. Devashish Giri, Responsibility of China for the Spread of Covid-19: Can China Be Asked to Make Reparations? JURIST