What is the best technique of constitutional interpretation? I raised this question in a recent edition of the Leaflet. Here in the United States, the standard debate pits originalism versus living constitutionalism. My colleague Marc De Girolami endorses a third option: traditionalism. A traditionalist judge, he explains, “would look at specific political and cultural practices — the activities of the organs of government and of individuals and groups across the country over long periods of time — to help determine constitutional meaning and law.” For De Girolami, the appeal of traditionalism is that it “illuminates a basic fact of human life: We admire and want to unite ourselves with ways of being and of doing that have endured for centuries before we were born and that we hope will endure long after we are gone.” De Girolami concedes that “not all traditions are worthy of preservation. Some are rightly jettisoned as the illegitimate vestiges of days gone by.” Still, in his view, “many, and perhaps most, deserve our solicitude.” 

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De Girolami is not alone in preferring traditionalism as a method of constitutional interpretation. In a future edition of the Leaflet, I will show that the late John Rawls endorsed traditionalism, too.

Germany has sounded the alarm on attacks on courts around the world. “The sad experience in Poland, Hungary and to some extent also in Israel is that constitutional courts can quickly become political targets,” warned Germany's Minister of Justice, Marco Buschmann. To repel similar attacks at home, the government is working with the opposition to enact a constitutional amendment that seeks to protect the independence of the Court. 

 Why do Americans venerate their constitution? Aziz Rana traces the historical roots and modern consequences of constitutional veneration in his new book, The Constitutional Bind.

Burkina Faso, Gabon, Mali, and Niger are just some of the African countries where coups d'état have occurred in the last five years. Fatai Aremu and Palesa Sekhejane catalogue these cases in their new draft paper, and suggest three strategies to bolster democracy in the region: strengthening institutions, promoting civic education, and entrenching regional collaboration. 

The most cited Brazilian women in constitutional law:

1. Ana Maria D'Ávila Lopes | 1294 citations

2. Eneida Desiree Salgado | 974 citations

3. Estefânia Maria de Queiroz Barboza | 955 citations

4. Janaína Rigo Santin | 835 citations

5. Melina Girardi Fachin | 742 citations

The Cambridge Handbook of Comparative Law features 35+ chapters on the most fascinating questions in comparative law, written by outstanding scholars from all around the world.

In her new paper – coming soon in the Fordham Law Review – Claudia Haupt examines two strategies to defend democracy from the harms of social media platforms: militant democracy and horizontal rights. The latest draft of the paper is available here.

Franita Tolson has been appointed dean of the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. An expert in election law and voting rights, Dean Tolson taught at Northwestern University and Florida State University before joining USC Gould in 2017.

Designing Islamic Constitutions is the most downloaded paper of all time in the field of comparative constitutionalism. Written by Clark Lombardi, it has been downloaded over 8800 times. It is well worth reading for its rich insights into Islamic constitutionalism.

Last week, we hosted Mark Graber for a roundtable discussion on his recent book Punish Treason, Reward Loyalty, a pathbreaking analysis of the little known parts of the Fourteenth Amendment. The book has justifiably received a lot of attention in light of the litigation against former president Donald Trump.

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As is our custom, we enjoyed BBQ for dinner afterward. Here we are, below, with my colleague Zach Elkins.