–Neslihan Çetin, PhD in Public Law
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 Ghana upheld a colonial-era law that criminalizes adult consensual same-sex conduct.
- Bulgaria’s Constitutional Court ruled to declare the majority of the changes made to the country’s constitution, in particular those affecting the judiciary, in the amendments passed by Parliament in December 2023, as invalid.
- The Turkish Constitutional Court has ruled in favor of Abdurrahim Kılıç, who was previously convicted for wearing a t-shirt with the word “Kurdistan” and the Mesopotamian Sun emblem, deemed by lower courts as ‘terrorist propaganda.’
- The Turkish Constitutional Court has released a ruling declaring the removal of incarcerated representative-elect Can Atalay from the Turkish Parliament in January ‘null and void’.
- Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court found part of electoral reform bill incompatible with constitution.
In the News
- Joe Biden has said the recent US supreme court decision providing presidents some immunity from criminal prosecution was “a fundamentally flawed [and] dangerous principle” as he called for significant reform of the nation’s highest court.
- Greek Supreme Court Prosecutor Georgia Adeilini announced the results of the investigation into the phone-tapping case. The investigation found no involvement of any state service in the use or purchase of the illegal Predator spyware, which was discovered on the phones of numerous prominent Greek politicians, journalists, and businesspeople.
- Germany lawmakers debate constitutional amendment for LGBTQ+ protections amid fierce opposition.
- Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a submission urging the Australian government to press the Vietnamese government on human rights by seeking clear, concrete, and measurable benchmarks for progress in upcoming meetings.
- Georgian media site Radio Free Europe (Radio Limited) revealed that Georgia’s largest opposition party, United National Movement, intends to file a challenge against the state’s new foreign agent law.
- A judge rejected an effort by GOP lawmakers to use the term “unborn human being” to refer to a fetus in the pamphlet that Arizona voters would use to weigh a ballot measure that would expand abortion access in the state. Republicans plan to appeal.
- French lawmakers have re-elected a member of President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist bloc as president of parliament’s lower house, a possible breakthrough in attempts to form a majority amid deadlock.
New Scholarship
- Jack M. Balkin, Teaching Constitutional Law Historically (This short essay explains the advantages of a historical approach and the problems of canon formation inherent in an introductory course, which for many students, is the only constitutional law course they will ever take.)
- Aziz Z. Huq, Structural Logics of Presidential Disqualification: An Essay on Trump v. Anderson (This Comment analyzes the Trump v. Anderson per curiam on its own terms, and by the criteria generically employed by the Court in other rulings.)
- Darrell A. H. Miller, Originalism’s Selection Problem (This essay examines the problem of selection with any originalist theory and what it means for constitutional adjudication.)
- Helen Norton, Advanced Introduction to US First Amendment Law (This Advanced Introduction discusses the scope of US First Amendment law, considering the available tools and approaches for thinking about constitutional problems involving the government’s regulation of speech, religion, and more.)
- Volume 2, Issue 1 of Comparative Constitutional Studies is now available in print and online.
Calls for Papers and Announcements
- Call for Papers: International Law in the United Kingdom: A Troubled Relationship? This is intended to be an inclusive and welcoming conference intended for all scholars, whatever their discipline or career stage. The deadline to submit abstracts is 9th September 2024.
- Call for Papers: ASIL International Economic Law Biennial Conference. The next ASIL International Economic Law Biennial Conference will be held on 16 – 17 May 2025, at Michigan Law, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Applications are now open for paper and panel proposals, and the deadline by which to submit a proposal is 15 October 2024.
- Call for papers are invited for International Journal of Legal Science and Innovation for the year 2024. The last date of submission is August 6th.
- Registration is still open for the Max Planck Law Annual Conference 2024, taking place at Harnack House in Berlin from Monday 21 and Tuesday 22 October. Deadline for submissions: August 30th.
- NLIU Law Review is now accepting submissions of manuscripts for publication in Volume XIV Issue I of the Journal. All the submissions are to be made only through the google form on or before 23:59 hours on August 07, 2024.
Elsewhere Online
- Guatam Bhatia, A Culture of Justification: The Kenyan Court of Appeal’s Finance Act Decision (31 July)
- Radosveta Vassileva, Bulgaria’s Constitutional Drama and the EU Commission’s Rose-Colored Glasses (30 July 2024)
- Markus Böckenförde, “Resilience lite”: Strengthening the constitutional protection of the German Federal Constitutional Court (29 July)
- Louis Rene Beres, Israel and Hezbollah: A Legal Assessment of Israel’s ‘War in the North’ (26 July)
- Maria Alvanou, ‘From the River to the Sea’ — ECHR Perspectives on Slogans and Security Threats (25 July)
Comments