When we say that Artificial Intelligence can assist with legal research, legal reasoning, or the production of legal knowledge, a prior question deserves far more attention than it receives: whose law do these systems know?
Large language models acquire their
Latest from Verfassungsblog
Everybody Out of the Press Pool
U.S. President Donald Trump is clear about his feelings about a free press. He despises it. His invectives against individual journalists and media outlets are legion. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, he first used the term “fake
Wider Always Meant Unequal
In his recent post, Spieker criticises the “safeguard clauses” announced in the Commission communication Preparing for a wider Union. These clauses would enable the suspension of voting rights in the Council and the freezing of EU funds if
Politicizing the U.S. Postal Service
The American electoral system divides authority between the states and Congress. The President, by contrast, has no formal role in election administration. The rule of law, though, has never deterred President Trump from plowing ahead in pursuit of his policy
Carbon Majors in Brazilian Courts
On October 9, 2026, Brazil’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office and a nonprofit environmental association, Instituto Preservar, sued Shell Brasil Petróleo Ltda. for damages caused by the April and May 2024 floods in my home state of Rio Grande do Sul. The
Pillars of Society
Thirteen men and two women make up the Christian Democratic Union’s group in the newly constituted state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt. On Tuesday, four of them helped elect a right-wing extremist as President of the Landtag. In protocol, and in politics
Stützen der Gesellschaft
13 Männer und zwei Frauen bilden im soeben konstituierten Landtag von Sachsen-Anhalt die Fraktion der Christlich-Demokratischen Union. Vier von ihnen haben am Dienstag einen Rechtsextremen in das protokollarisch und durchaus auch politisch außerordentlich bedeutsame Amt des Landtagspräsidenten gewählt. Wer genau
Too Young for Rights, Old Enough to Be Maimed
Since 21 September 2026, pupils across France have been protesting for more supply teachers, smaller classes and basic repairs to their leaking school buildings. By 9 October, the Ministry of Justice had counted 6,877 people placed in police custody,
Preparing for a Wider (But More Unequal) Union
On 6 October 2026, the Commission presented its Communication “Preparing for a wider Union”, which sets out concrete measures to prepare the Union for enlargement. At the centre are so-called institutional safeguard clauses. These resemble an Article 7
A New Frontier for Project-Based Climate Litigation
On 7 October 2026, the High Court of Australia held, by three judges to two, that a New South Wales (NSW) planning authority must consider conditions to limit a coal mine’s scope 3 emissions. This meant the authority could not