We are looking forward to our first academic event of 2024: the 2nd Graduate Conference on Constitutional Change, to be held this week here at the University of Texas at Austin. We will host 45 graduate students arriving from far and near, including Brazil, Canada, China, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Poland and beyond. They will present papers on a range of topics in constitutional change, including amendment, dismemberment, interpretation, mutation, replacement, and revolution. You are welcome to join us in the audience to learn from these outstanding students.

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As we begin the new year, I send you my best wishes of good health and great joys. I hope we will see each other here in Austin or elsewhere.

Meet the Spring 2024 Class of Distinguished Senior Research Fellows in the Constitutional Studies Program at the University of Texas at Austin.

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Idris Fassassi | France

Université Paris-Panthéon-Assas

 

Muhammad Ekramul Haque | Bangladesh

University of Dhaka

 

Jolita Miliuvienė | Lithuania

Mykolo Romerio Universitetas

 

Marieta Safta | Romania

Titu Maiorescu University

 

Daniela Salazar Marín | Ecuador

Constitutional Court of Ecuador

 

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We look forward to deepening our scholarly collaborations with these outstanding constitutionalists.

Charles M. Fombad & Nico Steytler

Oxford University Press

 

Kathryn Hendley & Peter H. Solomon, Jr.

Oxford University Press

 

Lucie Kadlecová

Stanford University Press

 

James B. Kelly

UBC University Press

 

Alicia Pastor y Camarasa

Routledge

 

Mauro Arturo Rivera León

Routledge

 

Mathias Siems & Po Jen Yap (eds.)

Cambridge University Press

 

Hendrik Simon

Oxford University Press

 

Amy Swiffen & Joshua Nichols (eds.)

University of Toronto Press

 

Leah Trueblood

Hart Publishing

We recently lost three great constitutionalists. Each contributed enormously to the constitutional development of their home country, and each has been a model for constitutional thinkers and doers around the world. 

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Mary Dawson was one of Canada's most important lawyers, ever. She wrote the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords, and so much more. I enjoyed her company, most recently when she spoke to students in my course on constitutional reform. 

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Thomas Fleiner, a Swiss expert in federalism, was Dean of Law at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, director of the Institute of Federalism at the University of Fribourg, and a high-level government advisor. He served as co-editor of the Routledge Series in Comparative Constitutionalism along with Alkmene Fotiadou, Xenophon Contiades and me.
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Juan Carlos Henao was a giant scholar and jurist, and a visionary leader of important institutions in Colombia. He served as President of the Constitutional Court of Colombia and as Rector of Externado University. I had the joy of hosting him in the U.S., and he in turn hosted me in Colombia.

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May each of these constitutional legends rest in peace. And may their loved ones find comfort in cherished memories.

We are now planning the 4th annual edition of the International Review of Constitutional Reform. The IRCR compiles reports on constitutional reform efforts over the past year in countries all around the world. We welcome expressions of interest to write a country report for the next edition. We give priority to teams that include women and early-career scholars. Prior editions are available here: 2022, 2021, and 2020. The book is co-edited by President Luís Roberto Barroso and me, and we work closely with Elisa Boaventura, Maria Borges, Bruno Cunha, Matheus Depieri, Júlia Frade, and David Sobreira. 

Meet the Spring 2024 Class of Visiting Doctoral Scholars in the Constitutional Studies Program at the University of Texas at Austin.

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Mathilde Ambrosi | France

Université de Bordeaux

 

Alexandre Freitas Couto | Brazil

Universidade de Brasilia

 

Suellen Patrícia Moura | Brazil

Universidade Federal do Paraná

 

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We are thrilled to host these promising scholars on our campus, and to support their exciting and innovative research projects.

My new paper is now published in the Virginia Law Review. In Multi-Textual Constitutions, I explain that it is both incorrect and misleading to describe constitutions as either “written” or “unwritten.” The better distinction is between uni-textual and multi-textual constitutions: some constitutions consist of a single document while others consist of multiple documents that are equally supreme. Countries with a multi-textual constitution include Austria, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Israel, Italy, the United States and many others. I welcome any comments you may have!