—Robert Rybski, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw, Rector’s Plenipotentiary for Environment and Sustainable Development.
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 Court of Justice of the European Union ordered Poland to pay the European Commission a daily penalty of one million EUR for each day of further functioning of the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court.
- The Constitutional Court of Spain declared 6:4 the second pandemic state of alarm unconstitutional on the grounds of illegally overtaking some of the powers from local authorities.
- The Supreme Court of the United States agreed to hear additional cases against the Texas anti-abortion law (Texas Senate Bill 8) but refused to grant an immediate relief.
- The Supreme Court of India ruled that mere support given to a terrorist organisation or mere association with it is not sufficient to attract offences in case of which bail cannot be granted.
- The Constitutional Court of South Africa declared unconstitutional provisions that allowed police forces warrantless searches of persons, homes and gave the power to seize objects in possession of those searched.
- The Constitutional Court of Malta rejected the freezing order imposed on former Chief of Staff to Malta’s PM and his businesses.
In the News
- The president of Brazil was accused of crimes against humanity in Brazil for handling the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The president of Turkey reversed his position and decided not to expel ten ambassadors that issued a statement calling for the release of jailed philanthropist Osman Kavala.
- A state of emergency was introduced in Sudan after the military took over the power from the transitional government (that already shared the power between civilian and military leaders).
- This Sunday, the 26th annual UN climate summit began in Glasgow (COP26), with the disparity between emerging countries and OECD members even bigger in the national outputs on tackling climate change.
- Deans of Law Faculties of Polish Universities issued a joint statement against the Constitutional Tribunal’s judgment of 7 October 2021 that concerned EU law supremacy.
- The year 2021 had already more coups than the previous five years combined.
- Turkish Justice Minister confirmed that preparations for a new constitution are underway.
New Scholarship
- David Kosar & Ladislav Vyhnánek, The Constitution of Czechia. A Contextual Analysis (2021) (providing a contextual and authoritative overview of the principles, doctrines and institutions that underpin the Czech constitution)
- Charmaine Rodrigues, Legal Approaches to Responding to Emergencies: Covid-19 as a Case Study, Constitutional INSIGHTS 6 (2021) (examining the use of power within the Covid-19 emergency by countries of the Indo-Pacific region)
- Cheryl Saunders, How Federations Responded to Covid-19, Constitutional INSIGHTS 7 (2021) (discussing how federations across the world responded to the Covid-19 pandemic)
- Tom Gerald Daly, Beyond Representation in Pandemic Responses: Independent and International Institutions, Constitutional INSIGHTS 8 (2021) (presenting how governments dealt with the pandemic in Fiji, Sri Lanka and Taiwan, as well as the roles of international actors in those places)
- Sabrina Roettger-Wirtz, The Interplay of Global Standards and EU Pharmaceutical Regulation. The International Council for Harmonisation (2021) (analysing the implementation of global pharmaceutical impact standards in the European risk regulation framework for pharmaceuticals and questions its legitimacy)
Calls for Papers and Announcements
- Young Legal Researchers Conference will be held at the University Hasselt, Faculty of Law, on 17 December 2021. The central theme of this edition will be “Building societal resilience through law”. PhD researchers are invited to approach this central theme from their specific field of research in a presentation. The deadline for submitting abstracts is 19 November 2021.
- Faculty of Law and Criminology – Ghent University invites initial submissions of abstracts by 30 November 2021 for “Expert Seminar on Intensity of Review in Public Law” that will be held on 29 April 2022 at the premises of Ghent University.
- Exploratory workshop “The shared management of EU funds in comparative perspective” will be held in a hybrid form in Brussels on 28 & 29 April 2022. The deadline for abstracts, ideas or expressions of interest is by 30 November 2021.
- Constitution Transformation Network (University of Melbourne) and International IDEA co-organise on 2 & 4 November a Melbourne Forum on Constitution-Building in Asia and the Pacific: ‘Democracy, Constitutions & Dealing With The World’ – in the form of four sessions across two days on the external face of constitutions including international approval of constitution-making, treaty-making, international investment and international relations.
- Federal Law Review invites submissions for a special issue on Equality and Public Law. The deadline for submissions is by 15 February 2022.
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu Centre for War and Peace Studies of the Liverpool Hope University seeks proposals for an online conference “Communication, Conflict and Peace”. Deadline for submissions is by 1 April 2022.
Elsewhere Online
- Stanisław Biernat & Ewa Łętowska, This Was Not Just Another Ultra Vires Judgment! Commentary to the statement of retired judges of the Constitutional Tribunal, Verfassungsblog
- Dinesha Samararatne, Comparative Constitutional Law, Colonialism and Empire (Part II), IACL-Blog
- Anna Mechlinska, When is a tribunal not a tribunal? Poland loses again as the European Court of Human Rights declares the Disciplinary Chamber not to be a tribunal established by law in Reczkowicz v. Poland, Strasbourg Observers
- Joy Monserrat Ochoa Martínez & Roberto Niembro Ortega, The Limits of Conscientious Objection and the Right to Abortion in Mexico, IACL-Blog
- Nele Schuldt, Third-Party Intervention in Pending Climate Case: The Human Rights Centre of Ghent University submits comments in Klimaseniorinnen v. Switzerland, Strasbourg Observers
- Alexandra Tomaselli, A New Beginning? Indigenous Peoples in Chile After Its Bicentenary, IACL-Blog
- Šimon Drugda, Dataset on constitutional change in Slovakia 1993-2020, slovakconlaw
- Pierre de Vos, A brief history of MR Jacob Zuma’s attempts to prevent the public from hearing the State’s evidence against him, Constitutionally Speaking
- Tanmay Singh, Anandita Mishra & Krishnesh Bapat, Why don’t they just stop stopping the internet? The curious case of India’s internet shutdowns, Verfassungsblog
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