14 July 2025
Turkey’s Gerontocratic Constitutional Moment
In less than a year, Turkish politics has undergone a profound realignment. It began in October 2024 with a remarkable speech by Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and President Erdoğan’s chief coalition partner. In one of the most cryptic U-turns of his career, Bahçeli—long a hardliner on the Kurdish question—proposed reopening the long-frozen peace process with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the separatist armed group that has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state. In short, the tectonic plates of Turkish politics are shifting, and at the center of this transition stands a cast of aging men, each well past seventy. Continue reading >>
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13 July 2025
Petro’s Schmittian Turn
On 11 June 2025, Colombian President Gustavo Petro issued a decree calling a national popular consultation on a package of long-stalled social reforms. The decree came after the Senate had explicitly rejected his formal request to hold such a vote – approval that is constitutionally required under Article 104 of the Constitution. This reveals something deeper and more dangerous: an increasingly Schmittian conception of democratic power, in which the president, claiming to represent a unified people, overrides institutional checks in the name of higher constitutional fidelity. Continue reading >>
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28 May 2025
A Blow to Our Constitutional System
A little-noticed Supreme Court order may pave the way for a dramatic expansion of presidential authority—overturning a 90-year-old precedent and weakening the independence of key regulatory agencies. In the hands of a would-be autocrat, the Supreme Court decision has delivered a serious blow to the constitutional system. Continue reading >>
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22 May 2025
Addio, Rule of Law?
Fears are spreading that Italy, too, may be joining the club of EU Member States dismantling the rule of law. In this post, I will discuss three episodes that indeed lay bare a set of enduring constitutional tensions: the “Striano gate”; the “Paragon affair”; and the enactment of a Security Decree. While the actors involved are not the same in each story, the constitutional stakes are analogous: the proper use of coercive powers in a democracy and the traditional dichotomy between freedom and state authority. So, are we witnessing early signs of democratic regression? Continue reading >>
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21 May 2025
Legality Over Accountability?
On April 23, 2025, public prosecutors in Guatemala executed an arrest warrant against Luis Pacheco, the Deputy Energy Minister. This case is only the latest in a series of politically motivated prosecutions that place the Attorney General at the center of Guatemala’s democratic backsliding. She has systematically targeted journalists, public officials and civil society actors, undermining democracy, the rule of law, and fundamental rights. What can be done when legal mechanisms to hold public officials accountable are effectively blocked? When there are credible grounds to believe that a public official is abusing their mandate, accountability must take precedence in legal and political debate. Continue reading >>
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31 March 2025
The Executive’s Responsibility for the Constitution
Who is responsible for safeguarding the constitution? Traditionally, constitutional lawyers have focused on the courts. But the alarming actions of Trump 2.0 and democratic backsliding across the world suggests we should think far more about the role of the executive. The UK House of Lords Constitution Committee (“the Committee”) has recently published a report on Executive oversight and responsibility for the UK constitution, which emphasizes institutions, in particular the civil service, as a solution the threats to constitutional governance posed but the executive. But this may be wishful thinking. Continue reading >>
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26 March 2025
Stopping Autocratic Legalism in America – Before It Is Too Late
President Donald Trump’s recent speech to the Department of Justice was meant as a declaration of war against lawyers. His words made clear that the most effective way to consolidate autocracy is by systematically dismantling the independent centers of power that support a healthy democracy, including the independent public prosecutor. As the Executive Orders targeting law firms underscore: the entire legal profession is next. This is no coincidence. Continue reading >>25 March 2025
A Constitutional Crisis? Maybe. A Constitutional Revolution? Likely.
Crisis rhetoric has become pervasive in the United States and Israel, although much of it is a hyperbolic response to the polarization currently dominating these nations’ politics. What seems clearer to us is that a process is underway in both countries that may very well culminate in a constitutional revolution. Such a development might or might not be deemed crisis-worthy, but it would mean that something profoundly significant had changed in the way the business of governing is conducted in each nation. Continue reading >>
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21 February 2025
Trumps Gegenverfassung
“He who saves his Country does not violate any Law” Continue reading >>21 February 2025