Binding Without Debating
In early June 2026, the COREPER authorized the European Commission to formalize the EU’s participation in Pax Silica, the US-led semiconductor supply-chain initiative. By June 26, the European Union was a formal signatory. The process was orderly. It was also, by any meaningful democratic standard, invisible. No European Parliament debate preceded the authorization. No impact assessment was published. No connection was drawn to a parallel development: the entry into force of the GENIUS Act, the US stablecoin law. The EU bound itself to one American architecture while remaining structurally exposed to another.
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A Right Not to Move
What does Union citizenship, traditionally dependent on a cross-border element, offer to those who have never exercised their right to free movement? For more than a decade, the position of “static Union citizens” has remained confined to the exceptional protection recognised in Zambrano. In its recent judgment in Safi, delivered on 4 June 2026, the ECJ extended those limits. The judgment established that Union citizenship protects static minor Union citizens from being forced to move within the Union. In doing so, the Court implicitly recognised a right not to move.
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The Enhanced Games from a Human Rights Perspective
Can you imagine the Olympics but with doping allowed? In the US, this has become a reality. On May 24, 2026, the first-ever edition of the Enhanced Games started in Las Vegas. This is a privately funded event in which athletes are permitted to utilize performance-enhancing substances. The main vision behind is “[t]he idea that athletes should compete substance-free is a 20th-century invention, not a timeless moral principle”. I argue that these events should be evidence-based, subject to ongoing monitoring, and adopted through a transparent and participatory process.
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Wenn Angst Regie führt
Die Jubiläumsausgabe der ZDF-Satiresendung „Die Anstalt“ sollte der wehrhaften Demokratie gewidmet sein. Kurz vor der Ausstrahlung lud das ZDF den Musiker Danger Dan und den Pianisten Igor Levit wieder aus. Als Begründung führte der Sender an, ihr gemeinsamer Song „Keine Angst“ propagiere Selbstjustiz und rufe zu Gewalt auf. Viele sehen darin vor allem einen Fall von Zensur. Das greift zu kurz. Denn wer eine Ausladung mit dem Vorwurf des Gewaltaufrufs rechtfertigt, trifft nicht nur eine Programmentscheidung, sondern ordnet ein Kunstwerk strafrechtlich ein.
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A Cyclical, Foreseeable, Worsening Threat
During the first two decades of the twenty-first century, approximately 489,000 heat-related deaths occurred yearly. Europe is no exception. Under the premise that heatwaves can no longer be distinguished from any foreseeable, cyclical event beyond their control, states are required to adopt all reasonable measures to keep the catastrophic impacts to a minimum, as mandated by the ECtHR. This blogpost explores the extent to which Article 2 of the ECHR provides legal protection against heatwaves and examines the level of due diligence required from state parties.
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US–Saudi Arabia Nuclear Cooperation
On 22 July 2026, the US administration announced a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia. Under this deal, the US will provide support to the Golf country to establish a civilian nuclear programme. This is worrisome given statements by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, that once Iran has nuclear weapons, Saudi Arabia would follow suit. Given the nuclear-induced tensions in the Middle East between Saudi Arabia and Iran and the scope of the agreement, this newly formed cooperation may put another nail in the coffin of the international non-proliferation regime.
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Gesicherte Wissenschaft
Im September könnte die AfD bei der Landtagswahl in Sachsen-Anhalt die absolute Mehrheit gewinnen und damit auch das Wissenschaftsressort übernehmen. Bislang hätte eine solche wissenschaftsfeindliche Landesregierung durch gezielte Blockaden enormen Schaden an der Wissenschaftsfinanzierung anrichten können. Nun hat man die Wissenschaftsfinanzierung gegen Obstruktionsrisiken abgesichert. Die Reformen zeigen aber auch, wo die Grenzen der rechtlichen Absicherung liegen: Dort, wo Staatsverträge kündigungsanfällig bleiben oder das Grundgesetz Einstimmigkeit vorschreibt, kann das Recht den politischen Konsens nicht überformen.
Continue reading >>Gehorsamer Positivismus
Wer mit historischen Vergleichen arbeitet, muss sowohl etwas von der Gegenwart als auch von der Vergangenheit verstehen. Der Münsteraner Rechtshistoriker Peter Oestmann nutzt die Diskussion um die teilweise gewaltsamen Proteste gegen den Erfurter Parteitag der AfD für eine eigentümliche Lektion aus seiner Version der deutschen Rechtsgeschichte (F.A.Z. v. 20. Juli 2026). Er will die Demokratie aus dem Rechtsstaat und die Grundrechte aus den Gesetzen heraushalten. Das hat mit der Gegenwart wenig zu tun, mit der deutschen Vergangenheit aber dafür umso mehr.
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Send Not to Know for Whom the Bell Tolls… as Long as It’s the Court Playing
Perhaps due to the notable impact of climate change on the ongoing summer, the delivery on C-67/25 by the Court of Justice has gone relatively unnoticed hitherto. The brevity of the judgment conflicts with the thunderous effects it may unleash, which have potential to open a definitive breach in the Union’s constitutional acquis. Noteworthily, this rupture is being perpetrated in alleged defence of Art. 2 TEU values: the lynchpin of the Union as a “militant” democracy is being deployed on the external front-line, too, against the Russian “enemy” and his “infiltrated” accomplices.
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AI Way or the Highway
Die bayerische Landesregierung hat in ihrer Kabinettssitzung am 23. Juni 2026 einen Gesetzentwurf zur Änderung des Bayerischen Hochschulinnovationsgesetzes (BayHIG) beschlossen, der es Hochschulen und Lehrenden verbietet, die Nutzung von Künstlicher Intelligenz zu untersagen. Das Vorhaben soll den Weg frei machen für einen „gewinnbringend[en]“ Einsatz von KI an bayerischen Hochschulen. Indem es Hochschulen und Lehrenden die Freiheit zur Entscheidung über die Nutzung von KI in unbeaufsichtigten Prüfungen nimmt, macht es den Weg allerdings nicht frei, sondern erklärt ihn zum einzig richtigen.
Continue reading >>CURRENT DEBATES
European Society After Commission v Hungary
The landmark judgment in Commission v Hungary has opened a new chapter in the history of EU law. In this decision, the CJEU not only held that Article 2 TEU can be invoked as a self-standing provision in infringement proceedings but also acknowledged the existence of a European society, in which certain values prevail – a historic first. In this symposium, we aim at showing the diverse ways in which scholars from law, philosophy, and the social sciences reflect on European society, in and beyond Commission v Hungary.
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Inter-Judicial Dialogue on Climate Change and Human Rights
This symposium brings together judges, practitioners, and scholars from the European, Inter-American, and African regional human rights systems to examine climate change as a human rights challenge, tracing shared legal questions, divergent doctrinal responses, and the growing importance of inter-judicial dialogue in shaping transnational climate justice.
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Volume 7,
Issue 2
July 2025
JUS COGENS
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Killing Hitler Word by Word: The Oath as Apocalyptic Lawmaking
GREGOR NOLL
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Adjudicating Climate Protest as a Tool of Modern Republicanism
DMITRII KUZNETSOV
OUR LATEST PUBLICATION
Christophe Geiger & Bernd Justin Jütte (eds.)
Enabling Access, Fostering Innovation: Towards a Digital Knowledge Agenda in Europe
Access to knowledge and information is essential to foster innovation. In the EU, existing copyright rules pose significant barriers to research and education. Instead of promoting access to knowledge resources, copyright creates legal uncertainty for researchers and educators and enables information intermediaries to exercise strict control over the use of protected works. This edited volume proposes ways out of the copyright conundrum by rethinking copyright as an access right.
Discover the Open Access digital edition here.
EDITORIAL
Hinter den Kulissen wird gestrichen
Wie finde ich Ideen für meine Texte? Zum Glück gibt es neben dem Recht noch das Theater, wo man sich nicht zwischen strafbar/nicht strafbar entscheiden muss, sondern gesellschaftliche Fragen in ihrer Ambivalenz darstellen kann, wo man aber auch nicht labern sollte, jedenfalls nicht ohne dramaturgischen Zweck. Denn gerade im Theater muss man das Publikum mitdenken: weg mit überlangen Monologen, unnötigen Szenen, verwirrenden Plots. Streichen, streichen, streichen. Diese Regel versuche ich auch beim Verfassen wissenschaftlicher Texte zu beachten. Leider wird in der Realität nicht in bzw. an Texten gestrichen, sondern hinter den Kulissen.
VB SECURITY AND CRIME
In cooperation with:
VB Security and Crime is a cooperation of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law (MPI-CSL) and the Verfassungsblog in the areas of public security law and criminal law. The MPI-CSL Institute is a member of the Max Planck Law network.