I took this photo in Maro Verger, a mountaintop village in Haiti. My mother and I were there to help rebuild a school that had been destroyed in an earthquake. The kids were joyful on that day. They were finally back in school.

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Only 35% of Haitian kids go to school. Why so few? Because it costs roughly $400 annually to enroll. Families cannot afford that; the average daily wage is $2. That is why I host a fundraiser every year in December to fund childhood education in Haiti. If it is within your means, would you please join me in making a charitable donation to the Marco Depestre Foundation, a non-profit organization that helps feed, clothe, and educate needy children in Haiti? A gift in any amount will help. Thank you.

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If you do make a donation--either via Canada Helps or via PayPal--please say hello to my mother! She is the volunteer director of this small non-profit organization named after her father, my grandfather. Marco Depestre was an agronomist, Methodist minister, and a believer in the promise of his native Haiti. He died 30 years ago in 1993. 

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My best wishes to you and your loved ones as we approach the new year. May 2024 bring you peace, joy, and fulfillment.

Congratulations to Whitney K. Taylor, author of the 2023 Book of the Year: The Social Constitution: Embedding Social Rights Through Legal Mobilization (Cambridge University Press, 2023). This is a remarkable book by an outstanding scholar. Well deserved!

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This annual prize is awarded by the International Forum on the Future of Constitutionalism on the advice of an Expert Council. The 2023 Expert Council consists of Antonia Baraggia (Italy), Berihun Gebeye  (Ethiopia), Masahiko Kinoshita (Japan), Virginie Kuoch (France), Emilio Meyer (Brazil), Jaime Olaiz-González (Mexico), and Marieta Safta (Romania). 

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Congratulations also to Rosalind Dixon, awarded honorable mention for Responsive Judicial Review: Democracy and Dysfunction in the Modern Age (Oxford University Press, 2023). And kudos to all 30 nominees for Book of the Year--and to every single person who published a book in constitutional studies this year. You have enriched our knowledge of constitutions and inspired new ideas for future scholarship.

Mila Versteeg and Adam Chilton are my guests in the latest episode of ConstitutionWorld, an interview series featuring thinkers and doers in constitutionalism. The subject of our discussion is their award-winning book How Constitutional Rights Matter.

Africa is virtually invisible in comparative constitutionalism. And the field suffers because of it. But not for much longer! Berihun Gebeye and I have contracted to publish The Oxford Handbook of African Constitutions with Oxford University Press. We hope to shine a bright light on the richness of constitutional traditions and experiences in Africa.

Have you published a book in law or political science in the last few years? You are invited to present it at our upcoming conference “Books and BBQ,” here at the University of Texas at Austin on May 16-18, 2024. Register a book panel or register as an observer. All are welcome!

I recommend this new paper on Regulating Parties by Constitutional Rules in Liberal Democracies, co-authored by Catarina Santos Botelho and Nuno Garoupa. The authors analyze constitutions in 37 liberal democracies across Europe and Latin America to ask whether and how they regulate political parties, and to what effect? The paper features case studies of Germany, Greece, Israel, Spain, and Turkey. It is worth reading!

I was thrilled to host Pablo Alarcón and Pamela Aguirre earlier this month. Both teach constitutional law at UEES, the top-ranked university in Ecuador. And each is a Distinguished Senior Research Fellow in the Constitutional Studies Program here at the University of Texas at Austin. Both brought a lot to our community, particularly with their outstanding lectures on constitutional reform in Ecuador. We look forward to hosting them again!