What’s New in Public Law

–Sandeep Suresh, LL.M in Comparative Constitutional Law (Central European University, Budapest)

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 Ireland held that the ban on asylum seekers to look for employment is unconstitutional.
2. The Constitutional Court of Hungary formed a special working group in the petition challenging the recent higher education law, also known as “Lex CEU.”
3. The Constitutional Court of Malta upheld the right to a fair trial of two accused men who were not afforded a right of reply to the AGs request to adjourn trial by jury.
4. The Constitutional Court of Matla found unconstitutional the VAT legislation, which doubled punitive administrative fines for late VAT payments with criminal prosecution. The legislation was in breach of the ne bis in idem rule.
5. The Supreme Court of India held that judiciary must consider the interests of the economy and examine the impact of its verdicts on jobs.
6. Minnesota Voters Alliance petitioned the US Supreme Court to invalidate the state law which prohibits voters to wear political apparel on an election day.
7. The UK Supreme Court will hold an emergency hearing over sending a severely ill baby for treatment to the US. Appeal court judges have ordered hospital doctors to continue providing life-support treatment until midnight on 8 June.

In the News

1. Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro pledged to hold a referendum on a new constitution.
2. In India, the State of Manipur plans to outlaw bandhs (general strikes).
3. The Rajasthan High Court in India recommended the Central Government to declare cow as the country’s national animal.
4. The Election Commission in India asked the Central Government to reconsider the newly introduced legal measures pertaining to electoral funding, because they reduce transparency.
5. Justice Mandisa Maya becomes the first female President of the Supreme Court of Appeal in South Africa.
6. Berlin court held that parents of a deceased 15-year-old, who want to know if she was being bullied, cannot see her chat history.

New Scholarship

1. Yaniv Roznai, ‘We the People’, ‘Oui, the People’ and the Collective Body: Perceptions of Constituent Power, in Gary Jacobsohn and Miguel Schor (eds.), Comparative Constitutional Theory (2017, forthcoming) (presenting and contrasting various theoretical conceptions of constituent power, mainly of its legal or illegal nature; of its holders; and of its direct or representational manifestation)
2. Silvia Suteu, Women and Participatory Constitution-Making, in Helen Irving (ed.), Constitutions and Gender, Research Handbooks in Comparative Constitutional Law series (2017 forthcoming) (analysing whether and how participation in constitution-making delivers for women, with examples drawn from the Scottish independence referendum, Irish constitutional convention, and Tunisian participatory drafting experiences)
3. Armen Mazmanyan, Constitutional Courts, in Pippa Norris and Alessandro Nai (eds.), Election Watchdogs: Transparency, Accountability, and Integrity (2017) (considering th role of constitutional court in upholding electoral integrity)
4. Dylan Lino, Towards Indigenous–Settler Federalism, 28 Public Law Review (2017) (explaining three major contemporary proposals to constitutionally recognise the Australia’s indigenous people)
5. Jacob Weinrib, Human Dignity and Its Critics, in Gary Jacobsohn and Miguel Schor (eds.), Comparative Constitutional Theory (2017, forthcoming) (exploring four main objections to the all-embracing role played by human dignity in human rights law)
6. Maurizio Arcari and Stefania Ninatti, Narratives of Constitutionalization in the European Union Court of Justice and in the European Court of Human Rights’ Case Law, 11 Vienna Journal on International Constitutional Law (2017) (explaining key elements of the constitutionalization process in Europe as developed by judges of the European courts in Luxembourg and Strasbourg)
7. Manoj Mate, Judicial Supremacy in Comparative Constitutional Law, 92 Tulane Law Review (2017 forthcoming) (challenging the idea of judicial supremacy in a comparative analysis of institutional roles asserted by courts in India, Germany, Turkey, Colombia, and South Africa)

Calls for Papers and Announcements

1. The Indonesian Constitutional Court invites submission for the International Symposium (ICCIS) on “Constitutional Courts, Ideology and Democracy In Plural Society.” The deadline for submissions is July 10, 2017.
2. Melbourne Law School invites submissions for the 10th Melbourne Doctoral Forum on Legal Theory on “Time in Law – Law in Time” to be held on December 7-8, 2017. Interested participants must submit their paper abstracts and a short biography to law-mdflt@unimelb.edu.au by June 11, 2017.
3. Melbourne Law School invites submissions for the 3rd Biennial Public Law Conference on “The Frontiers of Public Law” to be held on July 11-13, 2018. The abstract deadline is August 25, 2017.
4. The Britain and Ireland chapter of the International Society of Public Law invites paper and panel proposals for its inaugural conference on “Constitutional Relations after Brexit,” to be held on September 4-5, 2017. The deadline for proposals is June 30, 2017.
5. Vienna Journal on International Constitutional Law published its latest issue (Volume 11:1, May 2017).
6. The European Public Law Organization (EPLO) invites applications for the 5th edition of the Global Law & Governance (GLG) Summer School to be held from July 24-28, 2017. The deadline for applications is June 30, 2017.
7. The University of Otago invites submissions for the 2017 Law and Society Association of Australia and New Zealand Conference, to be held on December 6-9, 2017. The deadline for abstracts is July 14, 2017.
8. Paper proposals are invited for an international and interdisciplinary symposium on “The Use of Law by Social Movements and Civil Society,” scheduled for March 22-23, 2018, in Brussels. More information is available here.

Elsewhere Online

1. Aravind Datar, Illegal and Senseless, The Indian Express
2. Jeydev C.S., Judicial Review and Proportionality of Punishment, Indian Constitutional Law and Philosophy
3. Robert Barnes, Court says essentially that Trump is not to be believed. Will Supreme Court conclude the same?, The Washington Post
4. Noah Feldman, The Key Word for Travel Ban Is ‘Animus,’ Bloomberg View
5. Peter van Elsuwege, Ukraine’s Ban on Russian Social Media: On The Edge Between National Security and Freedom of Expression, Verfassungsblog
6. Tomasz Tadeusz Koncewicz, On the Separation of Powers and Judicial Self-Defence at times of unconstitutional capture, Verfassungsblog
7. Alvaro Sanabria, Post-Truth vs Law in Colombia: An Unstoppable Force and an Immoveable Object?, OxHRH
8. George Williams, The ongoing legacy of the Mabo decision, The Sydnes Morning Herald
9. Sangeetha Pillai, Plaintiff M96A and the elusive limits of immigration detention,　AUSPUBLAW
10. Jeff Kingston, Asia lags Taiwan in accepting LGBTQ equality, The Japan Times
11. Harold Hongju Koh, Dena Adler, Joanna Dafoe, Peter Posada, Conor Dwyer Reynolds and Eugene Rusyn, Trump’s So-Called Withdrawal from Paris: Far From Over, Just Security
12. Mark Tushnet, “Working the Refs” and the Supreme Court — A History?, Balkinization