23 June 2025
Haunted by Text
Slovak PM Fico renewed his attempts to amend Slovakia’s Constitution. The most controversial provisions are a “national identity safeguard” limiting the effect of international and supranational law, and a definition of sex as strictly binary. After securing backing from some opposition members, his cabinet has submitted the amendment to parliament for debate and a vote. While public mobilisation against the proposed amendment proposal is important, legal scholars and NGOs should avoid using language that might reinforce the perception that the formally powerful Constitutional Court lacks the authority to strike down or reinterpret such changes in line with constitutional values. Continue reading >>
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18 June 2025
Legalising Authoritarianism through Pakistan’s Supreme Court
On 7 May 2025, Pakistan’s Supreme Court overturned its own previous judgment from October 2023 that had declared military trials of civilians unconstitutional. The newly constituted Constitutional Bench reinstated clauses of the Pakistan Army Act that allow for the prosecution of civilians in military courts. The ruling was justified on national security grounds, citing the need to prosecute attacks by civilians on military installations, a rationale that conflates dissent with terrorism and bypasses the safeguards of civilian legal processes. This decision not only reverses prior precedent but also marks a troubling endorsement of military jurisdiction over civilian matters, raising fundamental concerns about the erosion of judicial independence and the rule of law. Continue reading >>
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17 June 2025
Beyond Legal Restoration
A recently published proposal by former Constitutional Court judge Béla Pokol suggests introducing a new emergency regime designed to defend Hungary’s illiberal system against potential re-democratization efforts by a future government. Together with international criticism of Poland’s judicial reform in its process of democratic renewal, this provokes a profound reckoning: traditional legal formalism may no longer serve the needs of constitutional recovery. It is time for a post-formalist approach to democratic reconstruction. Continue reading >>
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13 June 2025
Troops in L.A.
This past weekend, President Donald Trump issued a presidential memorandum that federalized National Guard troops and deployed those troops alongside active-duty marines in response to protests against his aggressive immigration enforcement operations in Los Angeles. While framed as a response to violence, the order also addresses peaceful protest. The decision to send military forces against civilians engaged in protected First Amendment activity marks a dangerous escalation, raising serious legal and constitutional concerns. Continue reading >>
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13 June 2025
The Nondelegation Case Against Trump’s New Travel Ban
Donald Trump has imposed the second travel ban of his presidential history. Despite the enormous harm it is likely to cause, many assume there is no effective way to challenge it in court. The Supreme Court's ruling in Trump v. Hawaii (2018) – addressing Trump’s first-term “Muslim ban” – probably precludes challenges based on discriminatory intent. Nonetheless, there is an alternative path to striking down the new travel ban: the nondelegation doctrine. This doctrine sets limits to Congress’s delegation of legislative authority to the executive. Continue reading >>12 June 2025
Power, Profit, and Washington’s Paradox
The Trump administration has been accused of corruptly placing private financial benefit above the public interest, most recently in President Trump’s acceptance of the gift of a Boeing 747 from Qatar for his use as Air Force 1, and invitations to dinner at a private club and to a private White House tour, offered as perks for those who invested substantial sums in his Stablecoin. Although, here, the President’s self-enrichment is blatant, more troubling are his policies aimed at dismantling safeguards against corruption at home and abroad. These reveal a deep contradiction in the warring goals of those currently governing in Washington; a contradiction that may eventually burst into the open. Continue reading >>11 June 2025
Anatomy of a Liberal Fall
In Poland, just one week ago, Karol Nawrocki – a virtually unknown, PiS-backed candidate with a murky past – surprisingly defeated Rafał Trzaskowski, deputy leader of the centrist Civic Platform and mayor of Warsaw. How could such a random figure triumph over an experienced and popular politician? In this commentary, I argue that Trzaskowski’s defeat was no accident, but the latest chapter in a longer political story – one shaped by public frustration, broken promises, the emptiness of Polish liberalism, and anti-elitist sentiment present in the society. Continue reading >>
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10 June 2025
What Nawrocki’s Victory Means for Europe
On June 1st, Polish voters rendered a fateful decision in the presidential election. Karol Nawrocki narrowly defeated Rafał Trzaskowski, the pro-European mayor of Warsaw. Nawrocki’s victory carries profound implications for Poland’s domestic trajectory. Moreover, despite what some commentators have argued, the new president might also well pose a threat for the European Union. Continue reading >>03 June 2025
Trump’s Threat to Nonprofits
The administration of President Trump is threatening nonprofits with the loss of tax-exempt status in an attempt to force them to conform their activities to policies favored by that administration. The threats are based on shaky legal grounds, and nonprofits have both constitutional and statutory bases for countering them. Nevertheless, these threats are significant, especially when combined with the administration’s efforts to cut government funding for many programs operated by nonprofits. And at the same time, the U.S. Congress is considering reducing the benefits of tax-exempt status in many ways, primarily to help pay for tax cuts benefitting wealthy individuals and corporations. Continue reading >>
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03 June 2025