—Silvia Talavera Lodos, PhD Candidate, School of Advanced Studies Sant’Anna.
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 Italian Constitutional Court ruled inadmissible a referendum against the law on differentiated autonomy but approved five others, including one on citizenship rules—reducing the residency requirement for citizenship applications from 10 to 5 years.
- The European Court of Human Rights refused interim measures in Călin Georgescu v. Romania, declining to suspend the Romanian Constitutional Court’s decision to annul the 2024 presidential elections.
- The EU Court of Justice ruled that Croatia violated EU law by taxing an Erasmus bursary, effectively removing its financial benefit and restricting free movement.
- Colombian President Gustavo Petro plans to declare a state of emergency following guerrilla attacks in the northeast, requiring constitutional court approval to enact emergency measures.
- Ecuador’s Constitutional Court defends the rights of a trans student, ruling that a school violated her rights to equality, education, and her best interests.
- Bosnian Constitutional Court rules against textbooks glorifying war criminals, cites ethnic bias and legal violations.
In the News
- Irish parliament failed to confirm Micheál Martin as Taoiseach—Prime Minister of Ireland—after protests, with Martin calling the crisis “a subversion of the Irish constitution”.
- The South Korean Constitutional Court held the impeachment trial of President Yoon Suk-yeol despite his refusal to cooperate with the investigation.
- Giovanni Amoroso has been appointed as the new president of the Italian Constitutional Court.
- Trump’s proposal to use the U.S. military to deport over 10 million migrants faces significant legal, constitutional, and practical challenges.
- Two senior Iranian judges were shot dead at the country’s Supreme Court in Tehran.
- As of January 23, Thailand has legalized same-sex marriage, celebrating with mass weddings in Bangkok.
- Polish President Andrzej Duda signed the 2025 budget but will ask the Constitutional Tribunal to review provisions involving cuts to the Tribunal and National Council of the Judiciary.
New Scholarship
- Sabarish Suresh. Constitutional ImagiNations: On the Imaginal Foundations of the Indian Constitution (2025) (Through a combination of archival research, imaginal analysis, and constitutional jurisprudence, this work reveals how images form the aesthetic foundation binding the constitutional subject and collective citizenry, and how their negation reflects a foundational ambivalence within Indian constitutional law).
- Javiera Barandiaran and Tristan Partridge (Eds.). Demanding a Radical Constitution: Environmentalism, Resilience, and Participation in Chile’s 2022 Reform Efforts (2025) (This book documents the critical thinking and political actions behind Chile’s progressive 2022 national constitution, which, despite being rejected in a referendum, drew on decades of diverse organizing in environmental, political, Indigenous, and community spheres.
- Mauricio Mandujano Manriquez and Tommaso Pavone. Follow the Leader: The European Commission, the European Court of Justice, and the EU’s Rule of Law Revolution (2025) (This article examines the evolving roles of the European Commission and the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in shaping the EU’s rule of law framework, particularly in response to the autocratization of Hungary and Poland).
- Francesca Palmiotto. The AI Act Roller Coaster: The Evolution of Fundamental Rights Protection in the Legislative Process and the Future of the Regulation (2025) (This paper critically examines the EU Artificial Intelligence Act legislative process, focusing on the fluctuating levels of fundamental rights protection throughout its formation).
- Gregory T. Papanikos. Are Human Rights a Luxury or a Normal Good? (2025) (This paper examines the relationship between human rights and per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP), exploring whether human rights can be categorized as a luxury good, normal good, or necessity).
- Michael Solimine. Transforming Constitutional Doctrine Through Mandatory Appeals from Three-Judge District Courts: The Warren and Burger Courts and Their Contemporary Lessons (2025) (This article examines the significant changes in the judicial interpretations of the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment during the Warren and early Burger Courts, particularly through the influence of mandatory appeals from three-judge district courts).
Calls for Papers and Announcements
- Public Law’s Editorial Committee invites proposals for Guest Editors for the 2026 Annual Themed Analysis Section, with a deadline of April 1, 2025.
- The Student Committee for Constitutional Law and Human Rights is now accepting submissions for the SCLHR Blog.
- The GNLU Centre for Sports & Entertainment Law (GCSEL) in collaboration with the Asser International Sports Law Centre, Netherlands, invites submissions for the 1st GCSEL International Conference on Sports Law in the Global South, to be held online on April 24-25, 2025. Deadline: February 15, 2025.
- The NLIU-CRIL International Law Blog invites original and unpublished manuscripts for publication on Public International Law, Human Rights Law, International Trade Law, and more. The submission deadline is rolling, and manuscripts can be emailed to crilsubmissions@gmail.com.
- The Journal of Legal Studies at National Law University, Delhi, is inviting submissions for its seventh volume, set to be published in August 2025. All submissions must be sent via email in Microsoft Word (.docx) format to nludjls@nludelhi.ac.in.
- The American Law and Economics Association invites paper submissions for its 2025 Annual Meeting, to be held at New York University School of Law on May 16-17, 2025. The submission deadline has been extended to January 31.
Elsewhere Online
- William E. Scheuerman, Trump and the Folklore of Capitalism, Verfassungsblog.
- Eva S. Krolla, Two Steps Forward, One Step Back? Equality and Disability Rights in the Von der Leyen II Commission, Diritti Comparati.
- Rodrigo Maruy, On Peru’s Constitutional Crisis, Verfassungsblog.
- Gaia Zanotti, Narrowing and Shallowing: Restricting the Right to Strike under Art. 11 ECHR in Kaya v. Türkiye and Almaz v. Türkiye, Strasbourg Observers.
- Jannika Jahn and Marlene Letsch, Progress through disruption? What role for the ICJ in the Advisory Opinion on Climate Change, EJIL Talk.
- Jean-Baptiste Dudant and Géraldine Giraudeau, Continuity of Statehood for Deterritorialized Nations: A Range of Principles but Few Concrete Prospects, EJIL Talk.
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