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This week, we will open the 3-day Global Summit on Constitutionalism here at the University of Texas at Austin. When our 200+ registrants arrive on campus from 40+ countries, each will receive one of our commemorative t-shirts displaying our logo and our many partners. Should you be unable to join us in Austin, we will live stream our 8 plenary sessions. All are welcome!

I have received advance copies of Responsive Judicial Review, an extraordinarily important new book on judicial review by Rosalind Dixon, one of the most impactful scholars of our time. This outstanding study challenges us to envision an ambitious role for courts to defend democracy and to advance the liberal constitutional values in which it is anchored. I recommend this book wholeheartedly. The book will be released on April 16, but is now available for pre-order. Responsive Judicial Review is published in the Oxford Series in Comparative Constitutionalism, for which I serve as Co-Editor with my colleague Robert Schütze. We always welcome proposals for books to be published in our Series.

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Register to watch the live stream of the keynote lecture by Amaya Alvez Marín on "The Chilean Constituent Process, 2021-22: Reflections on Indigenous Peoples' Representation and Inclusion," with a response by Daniel Brinks. The moderator is Catarina Santos Botelho. Our thanks to Ariel Dulitzky and the Latin America Initiative for sponsoring this special lecture. All live streams for the Global Summit are available here.

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Our Global Summit attendees will join us from every region of the world. Here are 7 of the 200+ attendees we look forward to hosting:

Mathilde Ambrosi (France)

Tamar Hostovsky Brandes (Israel)

Muhammad Ekramul Haque (Bangladesh)

Carissima Mathen (Canada)

Edward Oyelowo Oyewo (Nigeria)

Irene Spigno (Mexico)

Lécia Vicente (United States)

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Thank you to my colleague Chris Roberts for commissioning this article about how I became interested in constitutions. Believe it or not, it was all because of football! The story begins on the night of the Quebec referendum in Canada and it involves a telephone call from a football coach. Here I am, pictured below, in my first year on the football team at Yale University. 

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Register to watch the live stream of the keynote lecture by Daniela Salazar on "The Role of Women in Constitutional Change: The Case of Ecuador," with a response from Paz Avila. Our thanks to Adela Pineda Franco and the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies for sponsoring this special lecture. All live streams for the Global Summit are available here.

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Last week I hosted Jorge Madrazo Cuéllar in my office at the University of Texas at Austin. Formerly Attorney General of Mexico (1996-2000), he is a constitutional scholar. He and I spoke about building collaborations between Austin and Mexico City. And he was interested in my book on Constitutional Amendments: Making, Breaking, and Changing Constitutions (Oxford University Press), so I happily gifted him a copy.

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This month, we are hosting Masahiko Kinoshita as a Visiting Scholar in Constitutional Studies here at the University of Texas at Austin. A distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law at Kobe University in Japan, he is enriching our community with his scholarly contributions. He was a featured speaker at the symposium of the Texas International Law Journal on The Law of Occupation. He delivered lectures in my course on “Constitutional Amendments in the United States and World” and in my colleague Sanford Levinson's course on “Constitutional Design.” And this week he will give two presentations at the Global Summit on Constitutionalism. Here he is, pictured below, enjoying a walk to the top of Mount Bonnell here in Austin.

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