02 December 2016
Italy before the Constitutional Referendum: “I do not see any Armageddon Scenario”
On Sunday, Italy will vote on the largest constitutional reform in recent history. Francesco Clementi, constitutional lawyer from the University of Perugia and one of the staunchest supporters of the reform, answers our questions about what will happen in case of a NO or a YES victory. Continue reading >>
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30 November 2016
Statement by the former presidents of the Constitutional Tribunal: Marek Safjan, Jerzy Stępień, Bohdan Zdziennicki and Andrzej Zoll
Four former presidents of the beleaguered Polish Constitutional Tribunal have issued a powerful statement calling on the legal community and the President to defend the Court and, indeed, the constitutional order of the Republic. Continue reading >>
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26 November 2016
On Dreams and Nightmares
As the "Eurocrat's Dream" has ended, what have we woken up to? Since the very noteworthy collection of essays under title "The End of the Eurocrat's Dream", edited by CHRISTIAN JOERGES, DAMIEN CHALMERS and MARCUS JACHTENFUCHS, has appeared this spring, the waking-life reality in Europe and beyond has taken on a decidedly nightmarish character. Continue reading >>
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19 November 2016
The Lure of the New Normal
No-one can remain in a constant state of exception, that would be a contradiction in terms. Any emergency that goes on for too long becomes somewhat normal over time. If things refuse to get less terrifying, all we can do is raise our level of terrification, isn't it? Donald Trump will let a White Supremacists' media darling shape his political strategies – but hey: he deserves a chance, right? Austria is weeks away from falling into the hands of the far-right populists, with other European countries lining up behind it – but please, let's not overreact, maybe we are all just out of touch with what ordinary people think and feel? Continue reading >>
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12 November 2016
Week #1 after Trump
I will not bore you with yet another account of how stunned I still am and how I shake in my booths now and so forth. We all do, I suppose. The world has changed over night, quite literally. And the world we woke up in on Wednesday morning appears to be a far less habitable place for liberal constitutionalists who believe that state and society should respect human dignity, protect the vulnerable, overcome discrimination and impose on their own power those legal restraints that empower them in the first place. How could this happen? What did we do wrong? What can we do now? Shall we stand our ground or adapt? Continue reading >>
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05 November 2016
CETA, Trump and “Enemies of the People”
What a week… On Thursday, the High Court of Justice [...] Continue reading >>
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04 November 2016
Enemies of the People?
"Enemies of the People": that is, according to the Daily Mail, what the High Court judges are. Joseph Stalin would have been wildly amused by this way of putting things… Leaving aside such 30s reminiscences, it seems to me too simple to reduce this phenomenon solely to the disgracefulness of the British boulevard press and Tory backbenchers. There is something more fundamental going on. Not only in the United Kingdom. But in the entire Western democratic constitutional space. Continue reading >>04 November 2016
Feinde des Volkes?
"Enemies of the People": So titelt die Daily Mail als Reaktion auf das gestrige Brexit-Urteil des High Court. An dieser Diktion hätte Josef Stalin seine helle Freude gehabt. Aber jenseits solcher 30er-Jahre-Reminiszenzen scheint es mir zu kurz gesprungen, dieses Phänomen allein auf die Verkommenheit der britischen Boulevardpresse und der snotty Tory-Elite zu reduzieren. Da geht etwas Grundlegenderes vor. Und zwar nicht allein im Vereinigten Königreich. Sondern im gesamten westlichen demokratisch-rechtsstaatlichen Verfassungsraum. Continue reading >>03 November 2016
Rindfleisch in Karlsruhe: Was er kriminalisieren will, muss uns der Staat schon sagen
Wer Rindfleisch falsch etikettiert, macht sich strafbar - eigentlich einfach, aber vom Gesetzgeber derart obskur konstruiert, dass das BVerfG jetzt einen Verstoß gegen das Bestimmtheitsgebot festgestellt hat. Zu der Frage, ob die Ultima Ratio Strafrecht überhaupt das richtige Mittel ist, um Rindfleischetikettierung zu regulieren, schweigt das Gericht dagegen. Continue reading >>03 November 2016
Is the US Constitution to blame for the Rise of Donald Trump? An Interview with SANFORD LEVINSON
"My view is that things will get worse before they get worse. Assuming Clinton wins, there will be tremendous relief and elation on November 9th. If the Republicans keep the House, on November 10th there will be the realization that this election is the most important election in our lifetimes only because of the rejection of Donald Trump. He is a real menace, of course. But in terms of an election that really breaks the logjam, no: It will be more of the same. More of this sick feeling that the national government is really incapable of responding to challenges except if Presidents can push the envelope of executive power, which will just fuel the rage of the opposition party." Continue reading >>
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