What’s New in Public Law

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–Silvio Roberto Vinceti, Research Fellow, Department of Law, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italy)

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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. German Constitutional Court declared the use of predictive surveillance software unconstitutional.
2. The European Court of Human Rights was notified by the Polish government that interim measures regarding the transferral of judges cannot be applied.
3. The Supreme Court of Spain maintained the Catalan separatist leaders’ ban from holding public office after the suppression of the crime of “sedition” prompted a review of the case.
4. Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal struck down the requirement that transgender men undergo “full sex reassignment surgery” to change their legal gender.
5. The European Court of Human Rights ruled that the criminal fining of a whistleblower amounted to unnecessary interference with his freedom to impart information.

In the News

1. The new pro-Western Moldovian Government received a vote of confidence amid fears of a Russian coup.
2. The European Commission referred Poland to the EU Court of Justice in the wake of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal’s rulings disputing EU law primacy.
3. The Polish President sent the new judicial bill to the Constitutional Court for review.
4. The European Commission referred Belgium, Bulgaria, Latvia, and the Netherlands for failing to transpose EU rules on open data and the re-use of public sector data.
5. Renowned judge and scholar Margherita Cassano is set to become the first female President of Italy’s Cassation Court.
6. A Judge in Colombia used ChatGPT in adjudicating a case concerning an autistic child’s health insurance.

New Scholarship

1. Andrew T. Little & Anne Meng Subjective and Objective Measurement of Democratic Backsliding (forthcoming 2023) (disputing general narrative on democratic backsliding through empirical evaluation of objective indicators of democracy).
2. Moshe Cohen-Eliya & Iddo Porat A New Deal to the Israeli Judicial System (2023 (discussing proposed reforms to the Israeli Judiciary and advocating for a two-thirds majority requirement for the nomination of judges).
3. Frederick Chen & Jian Xu Partners with Benefits: When Multinational Corporations Succeed in Authoritarian Courts (2023) (describing how multinational corporations find effective judicial protection through enlisting authoritarian host states as stakeholders).
4. Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias & Wojciech Sadurski Is It Polexit Yet? Comment on Case K 3/21 of 7 October 2021 by the Constitutional Tribunal of Poland (2023) (claiming that the Polish Constitutional Tribunal’s decision opens the way for Poland’s withdrawal from the European Union).
5. Mathieu Leloup & David Kosař, Sometimes Even Easy Rule of Law Cases Make Bad Law: ECtHR (GC) 15 March 2022, No. 43572/18, Grzęda v Poland (2022) (criticizing the understanding of judicial independence employed by the Court in adjudicating the case).
6. Ethan J. Lieb, Three Modalities of (Originalist) Fiduciary Constitutionalism (forthcoming 2023) (offering a clear taxonomy of the different strands of American fiduciary constitutionalism).
7. Haimo Li, Robert Putnam’s Irving Kristol Turn (2023) (reviewing Robert Putnam and Shaylyn Romney Garrett’s volume “The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again”).

Calls for Papers and Announcements

1. In collaboration with Hertie School and iCourts, Max Plank Law invites proposals for a two-day workshop on “Legal Infrastructures of Democracy Legal Fields, Public Spheres, and the Twin Challenges of State and Market” to be held in Frankfurt, 7–8 September 2023. Abstracts are to be submitted by March 13, 2023.
2. The University of Illinois College of Law, the University of Bologna Department of Legal Studies, and the Center for Constitutional Studies and Democratic Development will host an international conference on “Constitutional History: Comparative Perspectives” with a focus on “Landmark Judgments.” The conference will take place in Bologna on September 14-15, 2023. Paper proposals received by April 1, 2023, will receive priority.
3. Elon Law Review invites submissions to its Fall 2023 Symposium on technology and the law to be held on Friday, September 22, 2023. Paper abstracts are to be submitted no later than March 24th, 2023.
4. The University of Wisconsin Law School calls for applications to its Hastie Fellowship Program. To ensure full consideration, applications should be submitted by March 1, 2023.
5. In the 60 years anniversary of the Van Gend en Loos ruling the Review of European Administrative Law calls for articles discussing the application of the direct effect doctrine in national legal systems. Contributions are due by the end of August.
6. Selden’s Sister invites paper submissions for the Symposium “Celebrating Women in Legal History: The Lives and Legacies of Early Women Legal Historians” to be held at the University of Liverpool School of Law and Social Justice on September 1, 2023. Abstracts are due by April 21, 2023.
7. Maastricht University is hiring a post-doctoral researcher in European and/or comparative administrative law that will work closely together with Professor Mariolina Eliantonio. The application deadline is March 31, 2023.
8. The Rehnquist Center at the University of Arizona announced the fifth annual National Conference of Constitutional Law Scholars to be held in Tucson on March 24–25, 2023.

Elsewhere Online

1. Amichai Cohen & Yuval Shany Reversing the ‘Constitutional Revolution’: The Israeli Government’s Plan to Undermine the Supreme Court’s Judicial Review of Legislation Lawfare
2. Chiara Armeni The responsibility of legal scholars in a time of climate change REALaw.blog
3. Emiliano Martin Vitaliani & Juan Diego Arregui Amending the Ecuadorian Constitution: Towards a Substantive Analysis of Citizens’ Participation’ IACL-AIDC Blog
4. Roda Mushkat The Economic Fallout from Curtailing Judicial Independence Verfassungsblog
5. Philip Hamburger How A Terrorist Victim Can Help The Supreme Court Address Section 230 the Federalist