18 February 2017
… yet there is method in’t
On Trump's state of mind, on Poland's latest twist in the Constitutional Tribunal drama, and on other crazy matters constitutional.
11 February 2017
Destitution or Constitution
On Trump and the Courts, on the importance of constitutional review and on other constitutional issues arising on the way into or out of authoritarianism.
04 February 2017
Trump, Taricco, Turks and Tusk
Once again, constitutional orders all over the world are tested to the limit of their endurance…
28 January 2017
Shaking off Constitutional Constraints
Is the seminal Miller decision by the UK Supreme Court good news for British constitutionalism or bad? What does the equally momentous Yukos decision by the Russian Constitutional Court teach us about the state of constitionalism in Russia? And what will become of the rule of law and the balance of powers in Turkey when President Erdogan gets his way with the Turkish constitution?
21 January 2017
Scarves, Slaves and the Nearly Headless NPD
On an incompletely decapitated Neonazi party and other topical matters constitutional.
14 January 2017
Strangers, Adversaries, Enemies
On party bans, on constitutional courts as tools and objects of political pressure, and on the various ways Muslim dress codes for girls and women further the evolution of constitutional law in Europe.
07 January 2017
Us and Them
On racial profiling, on what is part of Europe and what is not, and on apes in cages.
22 December 2016
Cleaning up after 2016
The end of this year of 2016 draws close, and relief about that fact, ill-founded as it may be, is palpable wherever I go. It has been a rough ride for constitutionalists, and we all deserve some days of rest and peace, if we can afford it. Therefore, I will spare you with seasonal reviews and reflections on these almost consistently dreadful twelve months past and highlight only one fact hopefully suitable to lift your spirits a bit: Since Brexit, support for European integration has jumped by 5 percent throughout the EU and by 7 percent in the UK.
10 December 2016
Freedom of Assembly in Poland: Next in Line?
Public protest seems to be the best hope civil society now has in Poland against its increasingly authoritarian government. It would be only consequent that the the next obstacle to their power for the Law and Justice party to dismantle would be the right to freedom of assembly.
03 December 2016
Christmas Showdown in Poland
Something decidedly un-christmasy is going on right now in Poland. On Thursday, I have talked to a person close to the ongoing conflict about the Polish Constitutional Tribunal on the phone, and here is what I have learnt:
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.