Final Round voting is now open for the 2025 Book of the Year! The Prize is awarded by the International Forum on the Future of Constitutionalism to the author of the most important book in constitutional studies published last year. ***

An Expert Council originally nominated 16 books for the Prize. Since January, there have been multiple rounds of voting, culminating in this Final Round. My sincere thanks to the members of the Expert Council, identified below, for selecting an outstanding list of nominees.

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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The Book of the Year will be announced on March 23, 2026. You are welcome to vote now in the Final Round!

For three years now, I have taught an undergraduate course on Amending the U.S. Constitution here at the University of Texas at Austin. Last month, I had the great joy of hosting three of my students – one from each of the three years I have taught the course. Each is an excellent student: Genesis Britz and Veronica Sandoval are undergraduate students, and Rodolfo Alvarez is now a law student taking his second course with me, this time my advanced seminar on constitutional reform.

Last week, advocates of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) began a 25-state tour to mobilize supporters behind a renewed effort to ratify the amendment. The tour is an homage to Alice Burke and Nell Richardson, two women who organized a tour of their own one hundred years ago in 1916 to mobilize support for what would become the 19th Amendment, a prohibition on restrictions on the right to vote on the basis of sex. Supporters of the ERA are invited to sign a national petition here.

Here are the most downloaded legal scholars on SSRN since last year. SSRN publishes a new ranking every month. 

 Every year, the Constitutional Studies Program I direct here at the University of Texas at Austin awards a prize to the author of a book judged to have made an extraordinary contribution to constitutional studies over the previous year. The 2025 winner is George Tsebelis for his innovative book titled Changing the Rules: Constitutional Amendments in Democracies (Cambridge University Press). I was pleased to host the prizewinner here in Austin last week for a dinner and a panel discussion on his book, featuring my colleagues Ashley Moran, Zach Elkins, Sandy Levinson, and Larry Sager. The book is available here in open access.

Joseph Geng Akech Geng and Charles Manga Fombad have joined forces to publish an edited volume on Post-Conflict Constitution-Making: Dilemmas and Options for South Sudan. The book, published earlier this year in 2026, traces its origins to a seminar on constitution-making in South Sudan hosted at the University of Juba in 2022. The book is available in open access.

 Last week, Austin was the site of the Emerging Scholars Conference in Public Law. The theme of the conference was Bastion of Democracy: The Role of Courts in Navigating Democratic Governance. After the conference, I hosted some speakers and discussants for BBQ at one of my favorite casual restaurants, Rudy's. It was a pleasure to spend time with Ahmed Abdelgawad (Egypt), Jeronimo Lau Alberdi (Argentina), Bruno Cunha (Brazil), Victor Ferreres (Spain), and Pablo Valdivieso-Kastner (Ecuador).

A new book by Benjamin Schonthal, Professor of Buddhist Studies and Asian Religions at the University of Otago: Courts, Constitutions, and Karma, published last month by Cambridge University Press. This book examines how Buddhist monks, colonial officials, and lawmakers in Sri Lanka have reconciled the laws of the Buddha with the laws of the state. 

Registration is now open for the 3rd edition of our week-long seminar, organized with the UEES Graduate School of Law, led by Pablo Alarcón Peña. Faculty, students, and all interested persons are welcome to register. Join us! 

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This edition will feature 12 faculty lecturers, all pictured below. We will also enjoy excursions to the Supreme Court of Texas, the Texas State Capitol, and the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library.  And we will (of course) enjoy Texas BBQ on more than one occasion. All are welcome! 

Colleagues around the world have joined me on #Mission365. The newest member of the team is my friend and colleague here at the University of Texas at Austin: Zach Elkins. Thank you! Your participation gives me added motivation. 

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This year I am on a mission to exercise every day of the year. (I missed three days last year.) I have been posting a daily photo of my exercise routine on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X/Twitter, and on my website. Public accountability keeps me striving for my goal. 

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Please let me know if you, too, will take the challenge!