Greenland is once again in the news. Two years ago, the Danish territory published a draft constitution in anticipation of one day declaring its independence from Denmark. More recently, the President-elect of the United States has expressed an interest in buying Greenland from Denmark. (The island has strategic geopolitical importance.) Many believe it is unlikely the sale will occur. But if ever it does, it will not be a transaction between the United States and Denmark. It will instead be a transaction between the United States and Greenland. Here is why.

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In 2009, the Parliament of Denmark enacted the Act on Greenland Self-Government. The law makes clear that any “decision regarding Greenland’s independence shall be taken by the people of Greenland.” Greenland can therefore choose its own path, including whether to sell itself to the United States, following a declaration of independence. 

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For now, the conditions are not ripe for Greenland to detach itself from Denmark. The island relies on an annual Danish block grant amounting to 60 percent of its annual revenue. But if the United States were to offer Greenland more money than Denmark gives each year, perhaps the island would agree to join the United States. 

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I have written about the political economy of Greenlandic independence here in a paper to be published in the Chicago Journal of International Law. The relevant discussion appears on pages 20-25.

Voting is now open for the 2024 Book of the Year! The Prize is awarded by the International Forum on the Future of Constitutionalism. It is is given to the most important book in constitutional studies published this calendar year. 
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An Expert Council has nominated 16 books for the Prize. You are invited to vote in multiple rounds culminating in the announcement of the Book of the Year on March 10, 2025.
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My sincere thanks to the Expert Council:

Antonia Baraggia | Italy
Berihun Gebeye | Ethiopia
Masahiko Kinoshita | Japan
Virginie Kuoch | France
Emilio Meyer | Brazil
Jaime Olaiz-González | Mexico
Marieta Safta | Romania

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Please vote here!

The New Class 

Meet the Spring 2025 Class of Distinguished Senior Research Fellows in the Constitutional Studies Program here at the University of Texas at Austin.

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Eleonora Bottini | France
Université de Caen Normandie

 

Rodrigo Brito | Mexico

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

 

Heber Joel Campos Bernal | Peru

Pontificia Universidad Católica

 

Andrea Katz | United States

Washington University in St. Louis

 

Elena-Simina Tanasescu | Romania

Constitutional Court of Romania

 

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

The International Forum on the Future of Constitutionalism presents an Advanced Seminar on Constitutional Reform, a new four-week online course for all interested in constitution-making and constitutional change. Topics covered include: (1) the life and death of constitutions; (2) the design of constitutional reform procedures; (3) constitutional amendment versus constitutional dismemberment; and (4) the relationship between democracy and constitutional change. Readings will be circulated in advance at no cost to registrants. Open to all. Details here.

It is my pleasure to introduce you to Ylenia M. Citino, a post-doctoral research fellow at Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies and a Contract Professor of Comparative Public Law at LUISS Guido Carli University and Tuscia University. A graduate of LUISS and French ENA, she holds a doctoral degree from Università Roma Tre and a master's degree from the Società Italiana per la Organizzazione Internazionale. In 2019, she was awarded the Italian prize for the best doctoral dissertation in public law.

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As a member of the Sant’Anna School research unit, I’m exploring “identitarian constitutionalism” in public law, particularly the identitarian role of capital cities, with a forthcoming article in Perspectives on Federalism on Rome’s role in Italy’s constitutional framework. Also, within a project led by a LUISS University team of scholars, I’m researching the intersection of parliaments, artificial intelligence, and automation in legislative processes, given my interest in the impact of digital technologies on constitutionalism.

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Without any doubt, among the many brilliant constitutional scholars who have shaped Italian legal doctrine, I can say that the work of Costantino Mortati produced a significant influence on my vision of constitutionalism. Mortati, one of the founding fathers of the Italian Constitution, has given us a legacy that must not be left to oblivion. His seminal work on La Costituzione in senso materiale, a book that was written in 1940 when fascism had taken over the Italian Albertine completely subverting its political regime, continues to offer incredibly contemporary tools of interpretation for understanding ongoing constitutional patterns.

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I recommend reading the paper I recently published in Parliamentary Affairs as it offers a fresh insight on how the Italian Chamber of Deputies after the pandemic started implementing AI-powered tools to streamline legislative tasks. In my study, I highlight constitutional challenges like neutrality and independence, inviting further scholarly debate.

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Editor's Note: If you would like to nominate someone for a future edition of “Three Questions,” please let me know!

The Social Science Research Network has released its list of the world's most downloaded scholars in all fields of law during the year 2024. The list appears below. Congratulations to all! 

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Thank you to all who read my work over the past year. I was pleased to rank 27th in the world.

Congratulations to Oren Tamir on winning the 2025 Mark Tushnet Prize in Comparative Law for his outstanding paper on Our Parochial Administrative Law, published in the Southern California Law Review. I was pleased to present the award to Oren earlier this week.

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I created the Tushnet Prize in 2019. The Prize is given annually to recognize scholarly excellence in any subject of comparative law by an untenured scholar. I was joined on the Prize Committee by Claudia Haupt, Mark Jia, Fernanda Nicola, and Ioanna Tourkochoriti.

This will be a banner year for new books in constitutional studies. Here are ten of the most highly anticipated books of 2025, listed alphabetically by author.

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Registration is now open for the Central European University's summer course on Constitution-Building in Africa. The course is directed by Markus Böckenförde and Christina Murray, and features an excellent roster of lecturers. Details are available here.

I was invited to an exciting debate between Akhil Amar and Jack Balkin on originalism. The debate was not about whether originalism is the right way to interpret the U.S. Constitution. The debaters agree that originalism is the proper method of constitutional interpretation, echoing a well known line from current Justice Elena Kagan: “we are all originalists.” Their debate was instead about how to do originalism the right way. The video recording should soon be available on the YouTube page of the new University of Austin (not to be confused with the University of Texas at Austin). As an aside, it was a joy to see the debate and then to have dinner with the debaters. I was a student of both, many years ago at the Yale Law School, and also served separately as a research assistant to each of them.