Mathias Hong
hongmathias.bsky.social
Mathias Hong
@hongmathias.bsky.social
Human Rights & Constitutional Law • Prof. of Public Law (Kehl) (private account; reposts ≤ endorsement) • 2005-2008: law clerk @BVerfG (Federal Constitutional Court of Germany) • https://verfassungsblog.de/author/mathias-hong/ • (Foto (c) U. Völkner)
Reposted by Mathias Hong
Das BVerG stellt heute klar: Sitzblockaden sind von der #Versammlungsfreiheit geschützt, wenn sie zur öffentlichen Meinungsbildung beitragen. Die strafrechtliche Verurteilung unseres Beschwerdeführers wegen der Teilnahme an einer Demo gegen einen Aufzug der Piusbrüderschaft sei aber gerechtfertigt.
November 13, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Reposted by Mathias Hong
JUST IN: Federal judge orders release of hundreds of people arrested in Trump's immigration crackdown in Illinois, according to CNN affiliate WLS.
https://cnn.it/3LzqUPL
WLS: Judge orders release of hundreds arrested in Illinois immigration crackdown | CNN
A federal judge ordered the release of hundreds of people arrested as part of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Illinois, according to CNN affiliate WLS, dealing a blow to federal ef...
www.cnn.com
November 12, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Reposted by Mathias Hong
"The United Kingdom is no longer sharing intelligence with the US about suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean because it does not want to be complicit in US military strikes and believes the attacks are illegal."

Maybe this should give pause to aficionados of the "Anglosphere"?
Exclusive: UK suspends some intelligence sharing with US over boat strike concerns in major break | CNN Politics
The United Kingdom is no longer sharing intelligence with the US about suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean because it does not want to be complicit in US military strikes and believes ...
edition.cnn.com
November 11, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Mathias Hong
Three German universities offering post-docs for researchers "who cannot conduct or continue their work in the USA appropriately because of actual political pressure. "
www.uni-konstanz.de/zukunftskoll...
Early Career Rescue Fellowship
www.uni-konstanz.de
November 11, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Reposted by Mathias Hong
Nochmals: Der US-Präsident hat am 2.9.2025 offenbar eine extralegale Hinrichtung von elf Menschen angeordnet und durchführen lassen, schlicht weil er sie des Drogenhandels bezichtigt.

Das sollte als eine (weitere) schreckliche Zäsur auf dem Weg der USA in die Autokratie wahrgenommen werden.

1/3
(Just pause for a moment to reflect on how horrifying this is.

Trump has apparently ordered that individual people be illegally killed.

So it took just a little over a year to let the "nightmare scenarios" (Sotomayor) of the dissenting opinions in Trump v US become a reality.) 6/
September 8, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Reposted by Mathias Hong
Bombing boats and killing people is blatantly illegal, even if those people were smuggling drugs. The label "narco-terrorists" is a predictable attempt to further expand a category ("terrorists") that has allowed stripping persons of rights and applying a military logic.
www.npr.org/2025/11/08/n...
Trump says boat crews are narco-terrorists. The truth is more nuanced, AP finds
In interviews in villages on Venezuela's northeastern coast, from which some of the boats departed, residents and relatives said the dead men had been running drugs but were not narco-terrorists.
www.npr.org
November 10, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Reposted by Mathias Hong
Delighted to discuss my paper "Social Media Platform Regulation in the US and the EU:Towards a Divided Internet?" (NYU Journal of IP and Entertainment Law, forthcoming) in the Texas A & Am Intellectual Property Scholars Roundtable organised by Peter Yu the past two days.
November 9, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Reposted by Mathias Hong
Bit late to this - but thrilled my @verfassungsblog.de piece on the history of environmental civil disobedience in Australia was cited in Le Roy v Brisbane City Council - finding the council discriminated against Extinction Rebellion based on political belief

www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/view...
Le Roy v Brisbane City Council [2025] QCAT 314 (19 August 2025)
Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII), a joint facility of UTS and UNSW Faculties of Law.
www.austlii.edu.au
November 9, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Reposted by Mathias Hong
BREAKING: Mark Wolf, appointed to the federal bench by Ronald Reagan, writes that he is resigning as a judge to have the freedom to speak out against the president's assault on the rule of law.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
November 9, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Reposted by Mathias Hong
I’ve had two conferences—one in the US and one international—change titles of panels or the entire gathering to avoid being targeted or make people’s lives more difficult.

It’s the exact kind of thing the US used to label totalitarian when foreign countries did this to their scholars.
Going to a research conference next week. One of my panels featured researchers coming from Asia, who decided to withdraw given the uncertainty about domestic travel with flight cancelations. Just one more reference point for how the US under Trump has become seen as a basket case country.
November 9, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Reposted by Mathias Hong
Nicolás Maduro is a mafia boss, not a president, and the Venezuelan government is now a criminal enterprise with the power of a state. It poses a threat to democracies everywhere.
How Venezuela Became a Gangster State | Journal of Democracy
Nicolás Maduro is a mafia boss, not a president, and the Venezuelan government is now a criminal enterprise with the power of a state. It poses a threat to democracies everywhere.
www.journalofdemocracy.org
November 9, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Reposted by Mathias Hong
Our reporters interviewed 40 of the men the Trump administration sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador: They described being beaten, sexually assaulted by guards and driven to the brink of suicide. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/w...
‘You Are All Terrorists’: Four Months in a Salvadoran Prison
www.nytimes.com
November 9, 2025 at 2:41 AM
Reposted by Mathias Hong
A good summary of why Cornell's capitulation to authoritarian extortion is an affront to democracy and academic freedom. aaup-cornell.org/2025/11/07/s...
November 8, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Reposted by Mathias Hong
Download of the Week: “Utopian Constitutionalism” by Dixon & Landau

The Download of the Week is Utopian Constitutionalism by Rosalind Dixon  & David Landau. Here is the abstract: An extensive literature examines transformative constitutionalism: the growing tendency of constitutions around the…
Download of the Week: “Utopian Constitutionalism” by Dixon & Landau
The Download of the Week is Utopian Constitutionalism by Rosalind Dixon  & David Landau. Here is the abstract: An extensive literature examines transformative constitutionalism: the growing tendency of constitutions around the world, especially in the global south, to seek to transform politics and society to reduce poverty, increase inequality, and achieve other goals. Transformative constitutionalists emphasize the creation of newer rights, including economic and social rights, environmental rights, digital rights, and beyond, as key instruments.
legaltheoryblog.com
November 8, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Reposted by Mathias Hong
Leseempfehlung oder Hörempfehlung (Spotify/Audible) für ein potentiell lebensveränderndes Buch (und gutes Weihnachtsgeschenk 🎁):

Rutger Bregman @rutgerbregman.com, Im Grunde gut, dt. 2020

Menschen sind im Grunde gut, auch wenn die meisten das (noch) nicht voneinander glauben.

1/11
November 7, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Reposted by Mathias Hong
This week, the ECHR turns 75. A milestone – but these are tough times for human rights.

We spoke with Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner MICHAEL O'FLAHERTY (commissionerhr.coe.int) about lasting achievements, present threats, and why not to lose hope.

verfassungsblog.de/we-must-neve...
November 8, 2025 at 11:17 AM
Leseempfehlung oder Hörempfehlung (Spotify/Audible) für ein potentiell lebensveränderndes Buch (und gutes Weihnachtsgeschenk 🎁):

Rutger Bregman @rutgerbregman.com, Im Grunde gut, dt. 2020

Menschen sind im Grunde gut, auch wenn die meisten das (noch) nicht voneinander glauben.

1/11
November 7, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Reposted by Mathias Hong
Das BVerfG hat die Triage-Regelungen des IfSG für verfassungswidrig erklärt. Dem Bund fehle es bereits an der Gesetzgebungskompetenz.

THORSTEN KINGREEN zeigt sich hiervon wenig überzeugt.

Über „Kompetenznormrabulistik“ und eine Schutzpflicht mit 16 Adressaten:

verfassungsblog.de/bverfg-triag...
November 7, 2025 at 10:20 AM
Reposted by Mathias Hong
Law Profs teaching First Amendment: I have put together a FREE, recently updated, and easy to use casebook for use in free speech classes. If you are interested in using such a casebook, send me an email or DM and I would be happy to share!
November 7, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Reposted by Mathias Hong
Ein bemerkenswerter Jahrestag: Vor 30 Jahren verkündete das Bundesverfassungsgericht seinen Soldaten-sind-Mörder-Beschluss 👇
taz.de/30-Jahre-Sol...
30 Jahre Soldaten-sind-Mörder-Beschluss: Generelle Kritik am Kriegshandwerk ist nicht strafbar
Am 7. November 1995 verkündete das Bundesverfassungsgericht, dass die Äußerung „Soldaten sind Mörder“ von der Meinungsfreiheit gedeckt ist.
taz.de
November 7, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Schwarz: "Rechtsprobleme der kommunalen Finanzausstattung sind Strukturprobleme; sie spiegeln in der Regel Defizite in der bundesstaatlichen Ordnung wider".

Die Kommunen verzeichnen "2024 ein Rekorddefizit von 24,8" Mrd. €, "das höchste kommunale Finanzierungsdefizit seit dem Jahr 1990".

1/17
Die Haushaltslage der Kommunen ist dramatisch. Hierauf wiesen jüngst die Oberbürgermeister:innen von 13 Landeshauptstädten in einem Brandbrief hin.

Warum hierfür auch ein strukturelles Verfassungsproblem verantwortlich ist, zeigt KYRILL-ALEXANDER SCHWARZ.

verfassungsblog.de/kommunen-fin...
November 7, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Reposted by Mathias Hong
🗓️ Nov 18, 1 PM CET

@danaschmalz.bsky.social (MPIL) on demographic concerns & migration control over 50 years—from birth rate politics to mobility restrictions.

Tuesday Dialogues | Einstein Center Population Diversity
Free, online

More info & registration: einstein-diversity.com/event/bevolk...
November 6, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Reposted by Mathias Hong
Die Haushaltslage der Kommunen ist dramatisch. Hierauf wiesen jüngst die Oberbürgermeister:innen von 13 Landeshauptstädten in einem Brandbrief hin.

Warum hierfür auch ein strukturelles Verfassungsproblem verantwortlich ist, zeigt KYRILL-ALEXANDER SCHWARZ.

verfassungsblog.de/kommunen-fin...
November 6, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Reposted by Mathias Hong
“The destruction of U.S.A.I.D. [caused] public man-made death. And the cruelty and lethality will only grow as the Administration expands its rollback of public-health advances to the homeland.”
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
www.newyorker.com
November 6, 2025 at 9:50 PM
BVerwG, Urt. v. 24.06.2025 (Compact), www.bverwg.de/de/240625U6A... (Urteilsgründe)

1/21
November 6, 2025 at 5:51 PM