Whose Coup?
The temporary suspension on 30 October 2026 of the two judges who had usurped the leadership of Poland’s unlawfully composed Constitutional Tribunal produced startling images of a police cordon around the court and a chaotic confrontation with the president of the Republic. Radical-right political movements in Poland and abroad quickly portrayed the intervention as a coup d’état. Legally, however, the intervention marked an important – and necessary - step towards restoring the rule of law.
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The Oath “Towards” the President and the Suspension of the Chief Justice
On Friday, 30 October, amid protests and riots in front of the Constitutional Tribunal, a group of judges elected to it this year by the centrist parliamentary majority entered its premises. One of these judges, Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, suspended the court’s president and vice-president for 30 days for obstructing its work. The escalation follows months of conflict in which Polish President Karol Nawrocki refused to receive the oath of the duly elected new judges, a largely ceremonial act that completes their election.
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Employees without Employers
Working conditions in platform work show an “urgent need for action,” according to the Bundesrat. It recently called on the German government to present a draft bill to implement the Platform Work Directive before the 2 December 2026 deadline. Effective regulation in food delivery, the Bundesrat states, could be achieved by requiring platform workers to be employed directly by digital platforms. Indeed, such a prohibition on the use of subcontracted labour would be really helpful.
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Herrschen lehren, erforschen, lernen
Ausgerechnet jene Hochschulen, an denen die Staatsbediensteten von morgen ausgebildet werden, sind besonders anfällig für autoritäre Einflussnahme. Ihre enge Bindung an Ministerien eröffnet politischen Kräften weitreichende Möglichkeiten, Lehre und Forschung zu steuern sowie Wissenschaft zum Instrument staatlicher Machtausübung zu machen. Die Gefahr reicht damit weit über die Einschränkung der Wissenschaftsfreiheit hinaus. Um ihr zu begegnen, braucht es mehr als gesetzliche Schutzmechanismen.
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Statement by Former Presidents of the Constitutional Tribunal on the Crisis in the Constitutional Tribunal
The judges lawfully appointed to the Constitutional Tribunal by the Sejm have taken the necessary steps to restore the functions and status of this constitutional institution, which is essential to the rule of law and the protection of citizens’ rights and freedoms.
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A Blue Wave’s Limits
If we can still believe the pollsters, Democrats are headed for a very good night next Tuesday. Across the United States, candidates running as Democrats are either leading or running even with their Republican opponents. That the president’s party loses ground in the midterms, often decisively, is one of the more reliable patterns in American politics. But if such a blue wave materializes, we should neither read it as voters’ repudiation of the Republican Party, nor as an endorsement of the Democrats. It is better understood as evidence that American democracy can still deliver on some, if not all, of its promises.
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Die Grenzen einer Blue Wave
Wenn man den Umfrageinstituten noch trauen darf, steht den Demokraten am kommenden Dienstag ein ziemlich guter Wahlabend bevor. Im ganzen Land liegen demokratische Kandidat:innen entweder vorn oder liefern sich mit ihren republikanischen Konkurrent:innen ein Kopf-an-Kopf-Rennen. Dass die Partei des Präsidenten bei den Midterms an Zustimmung verliert – oft sogar deutlich –, gehört zu den verlässlichsten Mustern der US-Politik. Eine solche „Blue Wave“ sollte aber weder als Abrechnung mit den Republikanern noch als Blankoscheck für die Demokraten missverstanden werden. Sie wäre vielmehr ein Zeichen dafür, dass die amerikanische Demokratie zumindest einige ihrer Versprechen einlösen kann – wenn auch nicht alle.
Continue reading >>Der lange Weg zu einem wirksamen Diskriminierungsschutz
Zwanzig Jahre nach Inkrafttreten des Allgemeinen Gleichbehandlungsgesetzes (AGG) soll es reformiert werden. Im Juni hat der Bundestag den Entwurf in erster Lesung beraten und an den Rechtsausschuss überwiesen. Dort wurde er am 5. Oktober in einer öffentlichen Anhörung diskutiert. Die Reform soll Betroffene effektiver vor Diskriminierung schützen, die Rechtsdurchsetzung stärken und offene Auslegungsfragen klären. Diesem Anspruch wird der Entwurf jedoch nur teilweise gerecht.
Continue reading >>Waiting or Pushing?
On 19 October 2026, the UK Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero agreed to the grant of consent by the Oil and Gas Authority for the Jackdaw gas field project under the Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration, Production, Unloading and Storage (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2020. The decision deserves close attention by climate and energy lawyers both for its compatibility with the remaining global carbon budget and for its treatment of scope 3 emissions. T
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Democratic Resistance in the Brazilian Elections
In one of the most dramatic elections in the history of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has achieved a victory against the far-right incumbent Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is now under house arrest following a conviction to more than twenty-seven years for a coup attempt in January 2023. Less than two days after the election results were announced, Flávio left the country to seek asylum in the United States, in defiance of a court order suspending his passport and prohibiting him from leaving the country.
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CURRENT DEBATES
Reflexive Globalisation and the Law: Expanding and Deepening its Understanding
On the first anniversary of the Centre for Advanced Studies Reflexive Globalisation of the Law (RefLex) at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin and continuing the debate initiated with a first symposium that set the scene, this collection of blog posts showcases the research projects of the Centre's first cohort of fellows. Spanning across different fields and regions, the contributions share a common engagement with the Centre's central idea and research agenda, that is the premise that the globalisation of law and legal discourse has entered a reflexive phase in which law and the production of knowledge about law are increasingly understood not as one-way exports from or within the Global North but as dynamic, multidirectional exchanges that confront colonial legacies, epistemic hierarchies, and enduring asymmetries of power. Co-edited by Philipp Dann, Florian Jeßberger and Johannes Socher, the symposium kicks off with a live stream of the Centre's first annual lecture, followed by a series of posts that illustrate how the understanding of this premise has developed, further expanded, and been put to test over the first year of RefLex.
Read all articles >>Recht und Scham
„Die Scham muss die Seiten wechseln.“ Mit diesem Satz hat Gisèle Pelicot eine Debatte darüber ausgelöst, dass Scham längst nicht dort verortet ist, wo das Recht sie vermuten ließe. Doch in welcher Beziehung stehen Recht und Scham überhaupt miteinander? Vor allem: Inwiefern beeinträchtigt Scham die Ausübung und Durchsetzung von Rechten und sollte das Recht darauf hinwirken, Scham abzubauen? Inwiefern darf das Recht Menschen gezielt beschämen, um seine Steuerungswirkung zu effektivieren? Und inwiefern ist Recht selbst von gesellschaftlichen Schamgefühlen getrieben? Das Symposium sucht nach (vorläufigen) Antworten auf diese weitgehend ungeklärten Fragen und will aufzeigen, dass es sich lohnt, die Rolle von Scham im und für das Recht stärker als bislang in den Blick zu nehmen. Herausgegeben von Paula Rhein-Fischer und Luna Rösinger.
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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
A Blue Wave’s Limits
If we can still believe the pollsters, Democrats are headed for a very good night next Tuesday. Across the United States, candidates running as Democrats are either leading or running even with their Republican opponents. That the president’s party loses ground in the midterms, often decisively, is one of the more reliable patterns in American politics. But if such a blue wave materializes, we should neither read it as voters’ repudiation of the Republican Party, nor as an endorsement of the Democrats. It is better understood as evidence that American democracy can still deliver on some, if not all, of its promises.
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.