What’s New in Public Law

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—Vini Singh, Assistant Professor & Doctoral Research Scholar, National Law University Jodhpur, India.

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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

1. The Thai Constitutional Court ruled in favor of the proposed amendment to establish a constitutional drafting assembly for the overhaul of the 2017 Constitution.
2. The Constitutional Court of Turkey concluded that the right to life of Festus Okey, who was killed by police in detention, was violated on material and procedural grounds.
3. The Constitutional Court of Italy ruled that Parliament needs to pass a law regarding same-sex couples’ parental rights.
4. The South Korean Supreme Court upheld the acquittal of the owner of Brothers Home in the case involving enslavement and abuse of vagrants, children and disabled people.
5. The Supreme Court of India held that expressing views different from that of the government does not amount to sedition.
6. The Supreme Court of India seeks a reply from the government on Uniform Succession laws.
7. The U.S. Supreme Court disposed of all remaining cases brought by former President Donald Trump challenging his election loss.
8. The Gujarat High Court issued guidelines to end discriminatory practices pertaining to menstruation.
9. The European Court of Justice ruled that Poland’s appointment process for Supreme Court judges violates EU law.
10. The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany published for the first time an annual report.
11. The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany dismissed an application in a case challenging motion adopted in Parliament relating to the EU-Canada free trade agreement (CETA).
12. The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany dismissed an electoral complaint concerning the lack of statutory provisions requiring gender balance when nominating candidates for the parliamentary elections.

In the News

1. Kyrgyz Parliament approves law for a referendum on constitutional change.
2. Several protestors reported killed in Myanmar.
3. Nepal’s Parliament holds the first meeting after reinstatement by the apex court.
4. China approves a plan to control Hong Kong elections.
5. EU to take legal action against the UK government for failing to keep promises made in Brexit deal to keep Ireland free of border checkpoints.
6. Pakistan’s former premier accuses Imran Khan of receiving PKR 700 million for Senate seat.
7. Turkey, Russia and Qatar to push for a political resolution in war-torn Syria.

New Scholarship

1. Yuvraj Joshi, Racial Justice and Peace, 110 Georgetown Law Journal (forthcoming 2022) (examining United States equality law through the prism of “no justice, no peace” and the transnational “peace versus justice dilemma”)
2. M. D. Bari, Let Judges Speak for themselves: Can Comparative Constitutional Case Law Help Conceptualize Universal Standards in the Fight Against COVID – 19, Dirittofondamentali.it 2020, 1. (comparatively examining recent constitutional case law concerning judicial review of emergency measures adopted in the fight against COVID -19)
3. Andrew Blick, Electrified Democracy (2021) (discussing the impact of technology on parliamentary workings in its longer-term historical context)
4. Martin H. Redish, Commercial Speech as Free Expression (2021) (arguing that commercial speech deserves the same treatment under First Amendment as traditionally protected speech like political speech)
5. Kent Roach, Remedies for Human Rights Violations: A Two Track Approach to Supranational and National Law (2021) (demonstrating how the proportionality principle can improve remedial decision making)
6. Patricia Popelier, Dynamic Federalism: A New Theory for Cohesion and Regional Autonomy (2021) (critically discusses traditional federal theories and builds on theories that focus on federalism dynamics)
7. Jaclyn L. Neo, A Contextual Approach to Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendments: Judicial Power and the Basic Structure Doctrine in Malaysia, 15 AsJCL 69 (2020) (using the example of Malaysia to suggest that it is necessary to contextualize constitutional identity to give it a robust character, rather than assuming a set of characteristics most often associated with liberal democratic constitutionalism)
8. Cornelia Weiss, Discrimination Against Women, Rule of Law , and Culture of Peace: Colombia’s Peace Agreement, The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs (2020) (addressing the post-peace agreement concrete measures and political will needed to transform into reality the conceptual language of ending discrimination against women, cementing the rule of law, and creating a culture of peace in Colombia)  
9. Maximo Langer, Current Trends in Comparative Law: A Symposium of the Younger Comparativist Committee of the American Society of Comparative Law, 1 Milan Law Review 2 (2020) (discussing the proceedings of the annual YCC conference)
10. Maartje de Visser, The Future is Urban: The Progressive Renaissance in the City of EU Law, 7 Journal of International and Comparative Law 389 (2020) (arguing that cities should be treated as a distinct subset of subnational authorities and developing a six-fold taxonomy of the roles that cities take on within the EU multilevel structure, viz implementation agents, value communities, front line decision-makers, democracy enhancers, policy developers, and advocates of urban interests in EU decision making)
11. Waldemar Walczak, Corruption as a Violation of Constitutional Values and Citizens’ Rights, 4 Studia Prawa Publicznego 32 (2020) (discussing how civic rights are eradicated by corruption, at the same time emphasizing a holistic and systemic approach to understanding and interpreting specific processes and decisions confirmed in practice)
12. Martin Kwan, China’s Rule of Law Development: The Increasing Emphasis on Internationalization of Legal Standards and the Horizontal Rule of Law, NYU Journal of International Law & Politics (2021) (suggesting that there is an ever-increasing emphasis on internationalization of legal standards and rule-based governance in China)

Calls for Papers and Announcements

1. The 18^th ASLI Conference on Law, Technology and Diversity in Asia will be held online on September 15-18, 2021. The deadline for submission of abstracts is March 30, 2021.
2. The University of Milan hosts an online conference within the SEED project on The Doctor-Patient Relationship in the times of pandemic between care needs and scarce resources: challenges and opportunities, on April 29-30, 2021. The paper proposals may be submitted by March 27, 2021.
3. The Journal NAD. Nuovi Autorismi e Democrazie: Diritto, Istituzioni, Societa (New Authoritarian Regimes and Democracies: Law, Insitiutions, Society) invites submissions for Vol. 1 in the year 2021. The deadline for essays is April 15 and May 15, 2021, for other submissions.
4. The European Yearbook of Constitutional Law invites proposals for its 2022 issue on The Constitutional Identity of the European Union. The proposals may be submitted by June 1, 2021.
5. The European University Institute in Florence hosts a conference on The Dust of Time? Towards a 21^st Century Constitutionalism on October 7-8, 2021. The abstracts may be submitted by March 31, 2021.
6. The Faculty of Law, Lund University in Sweden, announced doctoral student positions in Human Rights Law, specializing in Migration Law.
7. Ghent University, University of Antwerp, Free University of Brussels and Hasselt University Belgium invite applications for seven PhD and postdoctoral positions on the multidisciplinary research project, Future Proofing Human Rights: Developing thicker forms of accountability.  
8. The Comparative Constitutions Project has redesigned both the look and functionality of the Constitute database to make it even more powerful for those seeking insight into world constitutions. Read a summary of the changes here, or check out the site and start exploring the new features for yourself!
9. The Goettingen Journal of International Law invites submissions for its student essay competition on the International Law in Times of a Pandemic. The deadline for submissions is August 1, 2021.

Elsewhere Online

1. Rahul Narayan, Legislative Privilege and Competence – Facebook (and the Union of India) vs. the Delhi Assembly, Indian Constitutional Law and Philosophy
2. Anna Wojcik, Historians on Trial, Verfassungsblog
3. Kriszta Kovacs, Hungary and the Pandemic: A Pretext for Expanding Power, Verfassungsblog
4. Faizan Mustafa, Target Judicial Patriarchy, Not the Judge, The Hindu
5. Paul Evans, Parliaments and the Pandemic, The Constitution Unit
6. Marieta SAFTA, Actualități constituționale (februarie 2021). Jurisprudență relevantă a Curții Constituționale a României. Evenimente internaționale. Publicații, Juridice.ro
7. Bjoern Dressel, Volatile politics risks undermining Malaysia’s top courts, East Asia Forum
8. Hans-Martien ten Napel, Is Nigel Biggar’s What’s wrong with Rights? sufficiently realistic?, Canopy Forum
9. Melissa Crouch, The Constitutional fiction of Myanmar’s Coup, The Jurist