Reforming the GDPR
After a surge of new digital legislation over the past two years, the European Commission appears to have no intention of easing its pace in reshaping Europe’s regulatory landscape. This includes proposals to reform the GDPR. Regulatory reforms should, however, focus on strengthening enforcement and fixing the structural problems of the GDPR, rather than merely simplifying and deregulating it.
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Silencing Children’s Rights
The U.S. Supreme Court decided Mahmoud v. Taylor on June 27, 2025. In doing so, it dramatically expanded parental rights over students and education without concern for the rights of children or consideration of pedagogy and curriculum. Instead of addressing the plurality of views around sexual orientation and gender, the Court indirectly, but unsubtly, installs a traditional values framework that imposes norms of heterosexuality, religious fundamentalism and parental micromanagement of curriculum.
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Judicial Acquiescence to Presidential Immigration
Mahmoud Khalil, Kilmar Ábrego García, and Rumeysa Ozturk are just a few of the people against whom the second Trump Administration has openly engaged in alarming forms of immigration enforcement. There is an underappreciated way in which the Supreme Court has defanged the judiciary’s systemic ability to confront the executive branch’s illegal immigration behavior: It has failed to draw on U.S. administrative law. In doing so, it has diminished a vital structural judicial check on presidential power – one that lower courts, and even a future Supreme Court, may find increasingly difficult to deploy.
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Von der Leyen Faces the Vote
On July 10, 2025, the European Parliament votes on a motion of censure against Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and her entire College of Commissioners. The pending vote against von der Leyen provides a compelling case study for examining the evolving role of the censure motion as both a legal instrument of accountability and a political tool for inter-institutional dialogue. While the motion's immediate prospects for success remain minimal, its deployment illuminates fundamental questions about democratic legitimacy, institutional loyalty, and the constitutional evolution of EU governance structures towards a post-Lisbon parliamentary democracy’s logic.
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The Liberal Litigation Trap
The progressive legal movement faces a harsh reality: its reliance on federal courts has become a strategic liability in an era of conservative judicial dominance. Rather than continue on its current path or abandon impact litigation entirely, liberal cause lawyers should embrace “resistance through restraint” – tactically starving conservative appellate courts of cases while redirecting their energy toward democratic organizing, state-level advocacy, and defensive litigation.
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Trump’s Final Frontier?
Trump nominated Emil Bove III, a former attorney of his, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. The Bove nomination signals a turn away from the Federalist Society, the signature institution of the conservative legal movement. With it, the radical forces of the New Right movement are now making inroads into the inherently conservative judiciary. This is a development that could be a key step in consolidating Trump's power.
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A Legal Scalpel Instead of an Axe
Hungary appears to be assuming the role of a Trojan horse in the European Union, advancing the interests of foreign powers. Of particular concern is Hungary’s conduct in the field of the Common Foreign and Security Policy, especially in light of its obstruction of EU sanctions against Russia. Thus far, the EU’s conventional instruments have proven insufficient in curbing Hungary’s veto strategy. For this reason, I propose a path that is both legally feasible and politically realistic: a reinterpretation of Article 7 TEU that would allow for a targeted use of the instrument.
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Ein Verbrechen sucht ein Gericht
Russlands Angriffskrieg gegen die Ukraine verletzt das Gewaltverbot der UN-Charta in aller Deutlichkeit, bleibt strafrechtlich allerdings bislang ungesühnt. Der Europarat und die Ukraine reagieren mit einem Sondertribunal, das hochrangige Verantwortliche für das Verbrechen der Aggression zur Rechenschaft ziehen soll – trotz politischer und verfassungsrechtlicher Hürden. Es bündelt internationale Unterstützung und setzt ein starkes Zeichen gegen Straflosigkeit bei Angriffen auf die internationale Rechtsordnung. Ein ungewöhnlicher Schritt, der das Völkerstrafrecht grundlegend herausfordert.
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CURRENT DEBATES
Human Rights Protection in the Climate Emergency: The Inter-American Court of Human Rights' Advisory Opinion No. 32
On July 3, 2025, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) issued Advisory Opinion No. 32 — the most important and progressive document yet released by an international court on the climate crisis. This blog symposium, in collaboration with the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, explores the various facets and implications of the advisory opinion, spanning areas such as mitigation measures, access to justice, migration, global justice, and more.
Read all articles >>Animal Rights: The Role of the EU Charter
Animals remain largely absent from EU legal discourse – especially when it comes to the Charter of Fundamental Rights. This symposium asks whether the Charter could become a catalyst for stronger animal protection across Member States, exploring questions of legal standing, rights, and the EU’s evolving relationship with non-human life. Co-edited by Ester Herlin-Karnell and Matilda Arvidsson.
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Volume 7,Issue 1
April 2025
JUS COGENS
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C. CORRADETTI, G. DAMELE
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Machiavelli’s State and its Later Reception
GÜRKAN ÇAPAR
OUR LATEST PUBLICATION
Anmol Jain & Tanja Herklotz (eds.)
Indian Constitutionalism at Crossroads: 2014-2024
Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has governed India since 2014, marking a decade of challenges to various aspects of India’s democracy and constitutional system. While the last decade may not have left many conspicuous signs textually, the soul of India’s constitutional system has suffered several dents. The ruling government has launched, quite successfully, a project of redefining India, its constitutional identity, and its vision. This edited volume explores these multifaceted challenges and assesses the current state of Indian Constitutionalism.
PROJECTS
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.
Das Justiz-Projekt
Weltweit gerät die unabhängige und unparteiische Justiz unter den Druck des autoritären Populismus.
Wie verwundbar ist die rechtsprechende Gewalt in Deutschland – im Bund und in den Ländern?
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.
EDITORIAL
Das Gesetz der Gesetzlosigkeit
Zur letzten Sitzungsperiode des US Supreme Courts
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