Italy


Deconstructing Decriminalization

Casidhe McClone, Columbia Law School J.D. Candidate 2018 With 3.8% of the global population reporting some use of the drug in 2014, cannabis use has increased roughly 27% since 1998. While 3.8% may seem like a low number, it is still high enough to rank marijuana as the most cultivated, produced, trafficked and consumed drug in the world (using 2014 statistics). Considering the drug’s prevalence, some states have pursued an approach to regulation called decriminalization, through which the drug remains illegal but enforcement against users is deprioritized. One EU member, Portugal, took a bigger step 15 years ago and formally […]


Judicial Appointments in the Italian and U.S. Supreme Courts: A Brief Comparison

Giacomo Bertolissi LL.M., Columbia Law School, 2016 Despite a general understanding that courts should respect the principle of separation of powers,[1] American justices have often been criticized for making policy judgments.[2] In the recent Obergefell case, Justice Scalia affirmed that “[t]oday’s decree says that my Ruler, and the Ruler of 320 million Americans coast-to-coast, is a majority of the nine lawyers on the Supreme Court.” A similar criticism may be found in Italy. Even though Article 28 of the Legge 11 marzo 1953, n. 87 provides that the Italian Constitutional Court should refrain from interfering with the legislature’s discretion, the Italian […]