What’s New in Public Law

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—Gonen Ilan, Ph.D Candidate, Bar-Ilan University, Israel

—Sarthak Sahoo, Undergraduate Student of Law, Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab

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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 Supreme Court of Uganda held that its court-martial process was not independent and impartial at present, and civilians could not be tried under court-martial.
2. The Federal Supreme Court of Iraq has suspended the implementation of three bills that would potentially lower the age of marriage for girls as young as nine or fifteen, a general amnesty, and a land-returning measure for Kurds.
3.  The Supreme Judicial Council of Libya has struck down a ‘jihad tax’ that deduced salaries of employees to be sent to a state fund to ‘support Islamic struggles against colonial forces’.
4. The New York Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a law that ‘dilutes minority votes and makes it easier to prove that a local election system discriminates against minorities’.
5. The Supreme Court of India held that disabled candidates must be provided reasonable accommodation when writing exams. It further directed periodic sensitization and the establishment of proper grievance redressal forums

In the News

1. US President Donald J Trump has issued an executive order that would potentially withdraw federal funding from schools that would now allow transgender athletes to participate in women’s sports
2. Army Lieutenant General Lee Jin-woo testified in court, supporting impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, stating that he believed that the declaration of martial law was legal.
3. An EU-funded organization shall assist Moldova’s Parliament in streamlining legislative work and enhancing control capacities to the former’s standards
4. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has stated that he does not intend to resign after the first round of a presidential election against him was annulled by its constitutional court.
5. Justice Minister of Israel Yariv Levin Declines to sign the official announcement of Justice Isaac Amit as the new Supreme Court President

New Scholarship

1. Gautam Bhatia, The Indian Constitution: Conversations with Power (2025)
2. Ittai Bar-Siman-Tov, Tamar Hostovsky Brandes, Eliav Lieblich, Yaniv Roznai, Adam and Shinar, ‘Scholactivism in the service of counter-populism: The case of constitutional overhaul in Israel’ International Journal of Constitutional Law
3. Shrutanjaya Bharadwaj, ‘The Right to Receive Information: Conceptual Problems’ Indian Journal of Law and Technology.
4. William Baude & Michael Stokes Paulsen, ‘Sweeping Section Three Under The Rug: A Comment on Trump v. Anderson’, Harvard Law Review
5. Trump and American Democracy: Why the Constitution Alone Won’t Save American Democracy, Forthcoming in Journal of Law and Society.

Calls for Papers and Announcements

1. International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice. Towards the Democratization of Knowledge and Practice in Criminology and Criminal Justice: Global Perspectives and Local Realities. Deadline: 15 February 2025
2. Trinity Law School, Dublin, and the Law Reform Commission of Ireland are hosting an academic conference on the history and future of law reforms for publication in the Dublin University Law Journal. They invite extended abstracts until 28 February 2025.
3. The Law and Society Association at Stanford Law School is hosting the 9^th Conference for Junior Researchers as a one-day conference on ‘The Power Of Law: Balancing Authority, Justice And Reform.’ It invites paper proposals by junior researchers by 28 February 2025
4. The University of Michigan Law School is hosting the Tenth Annual Administrative Law New Scholarship Roundtable on 19^th and 20^th May 2025. It invites a one to two-page abstract by 28 February 2025
5. Doshisha University is hosting the 5th Asian Legal History Conference with Asian Legal History Association on 31 July and 1 August 2025. Applications are invited until 15 March 2025

Elsewhere Online

1. Gaurav Mukherjee, ‘America’s First Religious Public School?’ (5 February 2025) Verfassungsblog
2. Nicholas Reed Langen, ‘The Use and Abuse of Citizenship Deprivation: SSHD v Koliaj’ (6 February 2025) UK Constitutional Law Association
3. Madhavi Singh & Ganesh A Khemka. ‘Food Fight: Tackling Conflicts of Interest in Delivery Platforms’ (5 February 2025) NLSIR Online
4. Patrick Hossack, ‘Public works and private duties – the roles of the judiciary and the legislature in Attorney-General (Tas) v Casimaty [2024] HCA 31’ (4 February 2025) AusPubLaw
5. Ratu Durotun Nafisan, ‘The People, The Court, and Democratic Resilience: The Case of Regional Elections in Indonesia’ (6 February 2025) IACL-AIDC Blog