MADE IN BRAZIL: CONSPIRACY THEORY AND THE FLOW OF INFORMATION IN ONE-TO-ONE WHATSAPP CONVERSATIONS

This essay aims to shed light on the multiple and complex ways that information flows among individuals in times of intense use of digital platforms. Based on actor-network theory, it unveils largely unknown communication processes about the controversial death of the Brazilian Supreme Court Justice, Teori Zavascki in 2017 that occurred in closed conversations in which the author was part. Analyzing primary data, the essay discusses the signs of authority that allow for non-verified or fiction pieces to circulate as if they were news pieces, enabling conspiracy theories to take form. The essay defends that mutual responsibility in building the narrative with peers within a likeminded groups, and “translation” processes in which sender and information merge their characteristics to create trust are important factors to understand this phenomenon. Furthermore, in discussing news as cultural artifacts, the essay also raises reflections of the limits of framing this phenomenon as fake news, which artificially oppose what is “real” and “fake” disregarding cultural dynamics at stake.

Making Her Case: Dramatisation, Feminism, and the Law in the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Biopic On the Basis of Sex

The portrayal of women in film has experienced a remarkable increase in recent years (see for example The Iron Lady, Hidden Figures, Jackie, or Judy). Female biographical film becomes particularly powerful when its entire theme and ideology centres around the law and politics of gender and sex, as is the case in Mimi Leder’s biopic On the Basis of Sex (2018) about the life of the late US Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The gender-conscious film portrays and dramatises the life of a determined woman who, despite struggles and sex-based discriminations, has transformed the justice system in terms of gender equality and the protection of women’s rights since the 1970s. This article argues that by negotiating the intertwinement of personal life and public achievement, the film covers pivotal issues of the feminist biopic such as the dissolving of traditional gender roles and a narrative of female success but also points to a collective notion of the biopic in its attempt to initiate wider political and societal discourses. The dramatisation of Ginsburg’s life in the form of a feminist courtroom biopic celebrates Ginsburg’s legacy via a strong affective, political focus and a juxtaposition of private and public, personal and professional, accompanied by an aesthetics of symbolism and symmetry.

Theoretical and Historical Reservations Required for Adequate Perception of the O. Holmes’ Legal Ideology

n Russian legal discourse there are frequent attempts to apply the postulates of a realistic legal understanding, formed by US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, to continental legal realities. The findings of the American lawyer in relation to the jurisprudence of the United States are transferring to the Russian legal institutions without regard neither to the difference the very essence of common law, which was studies by O. Holmes, nor to the difference of status and functions of the judiciary, of which he wrote, nor even difference of the historical process of formation of legal material which he explored. As a result, we have statements like the decisions of the Plenum of the Supreme Court or the decisions of the Constitutional Court of Russia are “judicial precedents”, and even the result of judicial law-making, as was described by O. Holmes and other legal realists. This article debunks the myths about the classification of the American legal understanding, about the real essence of judicial law-making in the United States and about its differences from its English predecessor, about the adequacy of the appeal to the American legal ideology without considering the cardinal features of the status and functioning of the US judicial system. The article offers a brief, but sufficient to overcome these errors, historical and theoretical essay on each of the identified areas.

Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore

A tribute to Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore, former Supreme Court Justice and Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland.

Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore

A tribute to Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore, former Supreme Court Justice and Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland.

The day after the apology: A critical discourse analysis of President Tsai’s national apology to Taiwan’s indigenous peoples

In 2016, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen officially apologised to the island’s indigenous peoples. This national apology not only plays a persuasive role in informing the general public about the historical wrongdoings inflicted on the Taiwanese aborigines, but also constitutes a therapeutic and restorative role in the process of reconciliation with the indigenous victims. This article provides a critical discourse analysis of President Tsai’s apology. In particular, it examines the power and ideology embedded in both the speech and the related ceremony, and is supplemented with extracts from interviews with a cross-section of key stakeholders, such as a former Constitutional/Supreme Court Justice, indigenous/tribal leaders and members/staff/advisers from the Presidential Office Indigenous Historical Justice and Transitional Justice Committee. The analysis reveals that, despite President Tsai’s apology and reconciliation policies, instead of facilitating reconciliation, the apology appears to exacerbate the long-standing latent tension between indigenous and non-indigenous groups. While the apology opens a window for reconciliation, a higher level of commitment is required to promote structural and systemic changes, such as land restitution, before the apology can be deemed adequate.

Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore

A tribute to Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore, former Supreme Court Justice and Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland.

Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore

A tribute to Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore, former Supreme Court Justice and Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland.

“Notorious RBG”: A conversation with United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

On February 2, 2016, Prof. Ruth Rubio-Marín, Chair of Constitutional and Comparative Public Law at the European University Institute (EUI), interviewed the U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The interview took place in the framework of the European University Institute’s annual Ursula Hirschmann Lecture, a space dedicated to stimulate research and thinking which links ideas about Europe and the study of gender. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg engaged in a conversation that tackled her whole persona, without making rigid divides between the professional and the personal. Deep legal analysis, personal anecdotes, and invaluable advice for future researchers and lawyers intertwine in the interview, which sheds light on important dimensions of equality law.