At a major public law conference in Haifa, former Supreme Court president Esther Hayut delivered a stark warning about what she described as a growing assault on Israel’s judicial system. Hayut condemned certain elected officials for “trampling the rule of law” and for engaging in a systematic campaign to delegitimize the judiciary, including public calls …
Gerzso, T. (2023). Judicial resistance during electoral disputes: Evidence from Kenya. Electoral Studies, 85, 102653. Over the last decade, African courts have played an important role in the conduct of free and fair elections. In Kenya, the Supreme Court nullified the presidential election of the incumbent. These rulings challenge the conventional wisdom that courts in hybrid regimes …
We are excited to share that the Gargoyle, the University of Wisconsin Law School’s alumni magazine, has published a new feature highlighting the work of Lawyers and Democratic Decline (LADD) — a global research initiative examining how lawyers and judges navigate moments of democratic crisis. As democratic backsliding accelerates worldwide, understanding the role of legal …
Poland’s rule-of-law crisis escalated after a group of Supreme Court judges—appointed during the former Law and Justice (PiS) government’s controversial judicial overhaul—issued a resolution rejecting the European Union’s right to regulate Poland’s justice system. They further claimed that no public authority may disregard their rulings, even when EU law is invoked. The session was marked …
A new report from the UK House of Lords Constitution Committee warns that personal attacks on judges—by politicians and the media—are undermining public confidence in the rule of law. While open debate about court decisions is healthy, the Committee stresses that targeting individual judges or portraying the judiciary as “activist” is unjustified and harmful. The …
A recent Washington Post investigation reported that U.S. forces conducted a second strike on survivors of an initial attack against an alleged drug-trafficking boat off the coast of Venezuela. Legal experts say such an action — intentionally killing people already incapacitated and no longer posing a threat — would violate both peacetime international human rights …