Earlier this month, over 500 scholars and judges gathered in New Zealand for the 2023 Annual Conference of the International Society of Public Law (ICON•S), for which I serve as Co-President along with Marta Cartabia. Thank you to our hosts at Victoria University of Wellington, to our team at ICON•S, and to all attendees. We look forward to welcoming you to our next Annual Conference on July 8-10, 2024, in Madrid at IE University. Stay tuned for details--and please do plan to join us in Spain!

Registration is now open for the 2nd Graduate Conference on Constitutional Change at the University of Texas at Austin, to be held on January 11-13, 2024. Graduate students of all levels are welcome. More details here.

I have read an advance copy of The Story of Constitutions, coming soon. It is on my shortlist for Book of the Year. Written by Wim Voermans, it is a grand masterpiece that teaches as much as it inspires. This magisterial work enriches our knowledge of the origins and evolution of constitutions, opens new research streams that will guide scholars for years to come, and catapults Voermans to the Mount Rushmore of modern constitutional studies.

There have been over 20,000 proposals to amend the U.S. Constitution since its enactment in 1789, but only 27 have been ratified. We know a lot about those amendments. But what about the thousands of failed amendment proposals? For the first time ever, all of them are now archived in a searchable database, courtesy of the Amendments Project.

Just published: Volume 1 in a 4-part anthology on Asian Comparative Constitutional Law. This long-awaited inaugural volume focuses on constitution-making in 19 Asian countries. It is truly an invaluable resource. No other book offers as much detail & analysis on Asian constitution-making.

Ecuador is one of the most fascinating jurisdictions to study constitutional change. The country has had 20 constitutions since 1830. Its most recent--enacted in 2008--has already been amended more times than its age. Observers expect Ecuador to adopt its 21st constitution before too long. 

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For three years now, I have been a Visiting Professor of Law at the Graduate School of Law at Universidad Espíritu Santo in Ecuador, the country's top-ranked university. I teach courses on constitutional reform to outstanding students. Here we are, pictured below, last month on our last day of class.