—Bárbara da Rosa Lazarotto, Master Student at the University of Minho – Portugal; Researcher at the International Legal Research Group on Human Rights and Technology of the European Law Students Association – ELSA.
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 iconnecteditors@gmail.com.
Developments in Constitutional Courts
- The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that the State of California cannot ban indoor church services amid the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, however, restrictions on singing and chanting are allowed.
- The Constitutional Court of Slovenia announced that the parliamentary inquiry act and rules of procedure on parliamentary inquiry violate the Slovenian Constitution.
- The Constitutional Court of France has ruled that a law that was introduced by the French government to regulate 5G networks, also called “anti-Huawei law” are constitutional.
- The Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic has annulled some aspects of the electoral law that hurts smaller parties just eight months before elections. However, a survey has shown that the majority of Czechs are in favor of those decisions.
- The Supreme Court of Brazil in a 9-1 decision ruled that the right to be forgotten is not constitutional.
- The Constitutional Court of Bolivia has denied an appeal and confirmed that regional elections will take place on March 7, 2021.
In the News
- Ecuador held a presidential election this week. There are no official results yet about which candidates will run in a runoff election.
- This week the impeachment trial of former US President Donald Trump started in the United States Senate. On the first day of trial, the Senate found it constitutional.
- The Executive Branch of Peru has proposed a constitutional reform to modify article 93 of the Peruvian Constitution that would remove parliamentary immunity.
- The International Court of Justice announced that Judge Joan E. Donoghue and Judge Kirill Gevorgian were elected President and Vice-President of the Court respectively.
- Following the coup in Myanmar last week, the UN has asked for sanctions while protests rise in the country.
New Scholarship
- Catarina Santos Botelho, Antônio Carlos Efing, Leonardo Santos Cacau La Bradbury, Direito e seus desafios socioambientais e tecnológicos nas democracias contemporâneas (examining main socio-environmental and technological challenges of the law in contemporary democracies).
- Guiliano Amato, Benedetta Barbisan, Cesare Pinelli, Rule of Law vs Majoritarian Democracy (2021) (examining the tension between the principle of rule of law and democracy).
- Marcelo Neves, Constitutionalism and the Paradox of Principles and Rules: Between Hydra and Hercules (2021) (focusing on the paradoxical relationship between principles and rules from the perspective of systems theory).
- Yonatan T. Fessha & Karl Kössler, Federalism and the Courts in Africa (2021) (examining the design and impact of courts in African federal systems).
- Eric C. Ip, Hybrid Constitutionalism: The Politics of Constitutional Review in the Chinese Special Administrative Regions (2021) (examining the differences in constitutional jurisprudence of the apex courts in Hong Kong and Macau).
- François Chevrette, Herbert Marx, Han-Ru Zhou, Constitutional Law: Fundamental Principles: Notes and Cases (2021) (new edition of the 1982 publication, which aims to cover fundamental principles of Canadian Constitutional Law with updated notes and landmark judgments)
Calls for Papers and Announcements
- The International Society for Public Law – ICON.S has opened a call for nominations for its annual Book Prize.
- The Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology has opened applications for 2021 Ph.D. scholarships. The deadline for submission is March 31, 2021.
- The XXVII Latin American Constitutional Law Yearbook 2021 announced that law specialists, students, and all interested are welcome to participate in the Yearbook. The deadline for submission is April 30, 2021.
- The Centre for Fundamental Rights at the Hertie School announced its Second Annual Workshop on Research Methods in Fundamental Rights which aims to provide doctoral and early-career legal researchers with opportunities to reflect on diverse research methods in human rights research. The workshop will take place from 2-4 June 2021. The deadline for applications is March 1, 2021.
- The NUALS Constitutional Studies Review is inviting submissions for its forthcoming Volume 2. The subjects are India and comparative constitutional law, constitutional theory, and comparative politics. Submission is now open.
- The School of Law and Government of Dublin City University has opened applications for Ph.D. scholarship in 2021. The deadline for submission is March, 31, 2021.
- The Rule of Law for Latin America program of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation published the 2020 issue of its Latin American Constitutional Law Yearbook.
- The New York University Law Review has opened submissions for articles.
- The Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre of Excellence for International Courts welcomes contributions on the subjects related to International Courts. The deadline for submission is March 29, 2021.
- The European Yearbook of Constitutional Law – EYCL invites submissions for its fourth volume regarding the subject of the constitutional identity of the European Union. The deadline for proposals is June 1, 2021.
- The Faculty of Law of Bar-Ilan University has announced the international online workshop on Digital Governance in the Times of COVID-19. It will cover subjects such as the digitalization of legislature, online courts, and Human Rights in statistical modeling. The workshop will take place on February 17-18, 2021 registration is now open.
- The Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law has announced a ten-week summer 2021 position in Washington DC for graduate or law students that are interested in the subjects of privacy, technology, civil rights, and social justice.
- The Constitutional Studies Institute Carlos Restrepo Piedrahita of the Universidad Externado de Colombia is calling all interested to be a part of their Book Club. The first session starts on February 15, 2021.
- Runnymede Society’s 2021 Law and Freedom Conference registrations are open. The Conference will be held on March 12-13, 2021.
- The Journal NAD. Nuovi Autoritarismi e Democrazie: Diritto, Istituzioni, Società (New Authoritarian Regimes and Democracies: Law, Institutions, Society) has issued a Call for Papers for its next edition. Papers are accepted in English, French, Italian, and Spanish. More details here.
- The IACL Research Group on Social Rights will host its first event in its ‘New Scholarship Talks’ series by academics on their social rights scholarship on 16 February at 3 pm CET. The event will feature Dr. Katie Boyle (University of Stirling) discussing her new book Economic and Social Rights Law: Incorporation, Justiciability and Principles of Adjudication (2020) and Dr. Koldo Casla (University of Essex) as the discussant. The event will be moderated by Gaurav Mukherjee (Central European University).
Elsewhere Online
- Lorenzo Gradoni, Constitutional Review via Facebook’s Oversight Board, Verfassungsblog
- Julia Kapelańska-Pręgowska, Istanbul Convention in Poland – From Ratification to Unconstitutionality?, IACL-AIDC Blog
- Gurshabad Grover and Anna Liz Thomas, Notes From a Foreign Field: The European Court of Human Rights on Russia’s Website Blocking, Indian Constitutional Law and Philosophy
- Pierre de Vos, Our government could – and should – take steps to compel vaccinations in South Africa for the greater good, Constitutionally Speaking
- Shantanu Mishra, Inheritance Rights at bay: The story of Kashmiri half widows, Law and Other Things
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