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Full-Text Articles in Public Law and Legal Theory

Public Participation In The Constitution-Making Process: The Afghan Experiment, Shamshad Pasarlay Dec 2023

Public Participation In The Constitution-Making Process: The Afghan Experiment, Shamshad Pasarlay

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

This Article explores the public participation process conducted during the drafting of Afghanistan’s 2004 Constitution. It examines scores of questionnaires, public comments, written submissions and minutes of town hall meetings that the framers used to gather public opinion and input. The Article highlights that the makers of the 2004 Constitution of Afghanistan designed and implemented an extensive public participation process, but public opinion did not have a real impact on constitutional outcomes. Instead, the content of the constitution was settled by the political elites whose agreement was needed for constitutional ratification. Drawing on this case study, the paper suggests that …


The Gospel Of Federalism: How The Deification Of Political Ideology Impedes The United States’ Abortion Law Scheme, Nicole Jakobson Dec 2023

The Gospel Of Federalism: How The Deification Of Political Ideology Impedes The United States’ Abortion Law Scheme, Nicole Jakobson

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

In 2022, the United States Supreme Court decided Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which ended the federal abortion protection established under Roe v. Wade. The Court reasoned that abortion restriction is properly regulated by state governments, and thus a federal abortion law scheme is unconstitutional. In substance, the Court was safeguarding the enduring political and legal principle of federalism. This Note draws a comparison between the United States’ treatment of federalism and foreign jurisdictions’ treatment of religion within the context of abortion. This Note argues that the United States’ preoccupation with federalism is analogous to appeals to religion in …


Addressing The Toll Of Truth Telling, Inga N. Laurent May 2023

Addressing The Toll Of Truth Telling, Inga N. Laurent

Brooklyn Law Review

Across the United States, there are mounting and renewed calls for applying restorative justice principles to deeply entrenched societal ills based on reconciliation, namely in the form of truth and reconciliation commissions (TRCs). Amid our great mobilization, we would be wise to pause, contemplating lessons from lived experiences. Since the 1970s, approximately thirty-five national truth commissions have taken place. In South Africa, Canada, Sierra Leone, and many processes, TRCs have proven adept at cataloguing approved instances of victim and survivors’ (VS) stories and elaborately contextualizing conflict through a new historical lens. Despite the transformative potential of TRCs, they are still …