What’s New in Public Law

–Angelique Devaux, French Licensed Attorney (Notaire)

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 contact.iconnect@gmail.com.

Developments in Constitutional Courts

1. The Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered further probes into alleged corruption of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the so called“Panama Leaks case.
2. The Supreme Court of Israel ruled that some businesses may remain open on Shabbat in Tel Aviv.
3. The U.S. Supreme court found unconstitutional Colorado policy of not automatically refunding court fees when a defendant’s conviction is reversed.
4. The Supreme Court of India ruled that if a person does not protest someone illegally occupying her property for 12 years, then the squatter would get ownership rights over that property.
5. The Supreme Court of Canada is expected to be asked for an advisory opinion on a genetic privacy bill.

In the News

1. Russian lawmakers suggested a bill depriving terrorists of Russian citizenship.
2. Three child bride survivors challenge Indonesia’s 1974 Marriage Law in the Constitutional Court.
3. The Justice Minister of Turkey stated that the Constitutional Court has no jurisdictions over election appeals.
4. The Nepal Government presented a new amendment constitution bill.
5. Ireland may change its constitutional view on abortion.
6. Russia banned Jehovah’s Witnesses after the Supreme court’s found the religion to be an “extremist sect”.
7. The centrist Emmanuel Macron and the far right Marine Le Pen have both passed the first round and are qualified for the second round of the French presidential elections.

New Scholarship

1. Tomasz Tadeusz Koncewicz, The “emergency constitutional review” and Polish constitutional crisis. Of constitutional self-defense and judicial empowerment, 2 Polish Law Review (2016) (arguing for “emergency constitutional review” exercised by ordinary courts in constitutional self-defence)
2. Tom Gerald Daly, A Constitutional Court for Sri Lanka? Perceptions, Potential and Pitfalls’, (2017) (discussing the proposal to establish a Constitutional Court of Sri Lanka in the context of the ongoing constitution drafting process)
3. Steven H. Shiffrin, What’s Wrong With the First Amendment, (2016) (providing a critique of free speech idolatry in a comparative context).
4. Bilayana Petkova, Domesticating the ‘Foreign’ in Making Transatlantic Data Privacy Law, International Journal of Constitutional Law (forthcoming 2017), (analyzing data privacy protection with a focus on federalism, in a comparison of the United States and European Union).
5. Manoj Mate, Judicial Supremacy in Comparative Constitutional Law, 92 Tulane Law Review (forthcoming 2017) (examining the prevailing conception of judicial supremacy in comparative constitutional law)

 Calls for Papers and announcements

1. The sixth edition of the LUISS Summer Program on “Parliamentary Democracy in Europe” will be devoted to “Parliaments, democratic accountability and budgetary powers.” It will run from July 10 to 21. Students can apply for one week or two weeks. Application information, including details on the faculty and fees, is available here. The deadline for applications is April 30.
2. The School of Law & Social Justice, University of Liverpool, invites submissions to a two-day workshop for postgraduate/early career researchers on “Contemporary Challenges in Constitutional Theory” to be held on June 19-20, 2017. The submission deadline is April 30, 2017.
3. The Center for Constitutional Law at Akron seeks paper proposals for its Fall Virtual Symposium on Constitutional Remedies to be held on November 10, 2017.
4. The Centre for Parliamentary Research organizes the Parliamentary Practice of Legislation in Europe Workshop on the “Day of Parliamentarism” to be held in Budapest on May 2, 2017.
5. The Council on International Law organizes a seminar on “Freedom of Religion in Europe: Achievements and Perspectives” to be held at the Human Rights Building in Strasbourg, France, on Friday 28 April, 2017
6. The Centre for Constitutional Studies and University of Alberta, Faculty of Law invites proposals for the conference “Reconciliation:Wahkotowin” to be held on September 21-23, 2017, at the River Cree Resort just outside of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
7. The South African Intellectual Property Law Journal calls for submissions for publication in the 2017 issue.
8. The Italian law Journal Comparazione e diritto civile invites submissions to a special issue on “Who needs Comparative Law?”  The submission deadline is April 30, 2017.
9. The Competition Law Scholars Forum (CLaSF) invites submissions to a workshop on “Constitutional Challenges in Europe – The impact and role of competition law” to be held on September 14, 2017 at the University of Amsterdam.

Elsewhere Online

1. Thomas A. Barnico, Was James Comey a Special Prosecutor?, Notice & Comment
2. Chaima Lahsini, Morocco’s Constitutional Court: How does it work?, Morocco World News
3. Caroline Naomé, La pratique du pourvoi devant la CJUE [Video in French, Part 3], Le blog de de droit Européen
4. Adeel Hussain, How Old is 14 Really On Child Marriage and Case-by-case Justice, Verfassungsblog
5. Franziska Brachthäuser, No Compromises on Reproductive Rights – Why Ireland Need Constitutional Change, Verfassungsblog
6. Editorial Board, The Supreme Court Weighs the Church-State Division, The New York Times
7. Anna Olijnyk, Burns v Corbett: the latest word on State tribunals and judicial power, AUSPUBLAW