Video

U.S. – India Comparative Constitutional Law 2.0 : Workshop 3 at TNNLU, Trichy (Session I and II)

November 13, 2021

The Centre for Law and Policy Research (CLPR) in collaboration with its partnered Indian and American universities organised a series of workshops on U.S.- India Comparative Constitutional law in October, November 2021 and January 2022. The partnered Indian and American law universities were paired for an interactive session.

On 13 and 14 November 2021, CLPR conducted the third virtual workshop of this series. This time around, our partner was the Tamil Nadu National Law University, Trichy (TNNLU). The workshop was structured around four sessions that would help students explore critical Constitutional Law issues grounded in a US-India comparative framework. It gave the students an opportunity to analyse, compare, and discuss in-depth issues related to personal liberty, freedom of choice, reproductive rights, and personal autonomy.

This video covers session I and II. The workshop was attended by over 50 students from various universities, including TNNLU, St. Joseph’s College of Law, Bengaluru, School of Law, Christ University, Bengaluru, Karnataka State Law University, Symbiosis International University, Hyderabad, and National Law University, Delhi. 10 other persons were present, including faculty members, U.S. Consulate staff, and the CLPR team. Due to COVID-19-related circumstances, the U.S. partner law university had to pull out of the workshop.

The Agendas for session I and II are provided below:

9:30 am – 11:30 am – Session I: Constitutional Founding

Part I

The first session covered the constitution-making process in the U.S. and India. The students were then posed with the questions: ‘should Constitutions be written democratically?’ and ‘were the American and Indian constitution-making processes democratic enough?’ The discussions revolved around themes related to constitution-making, such as election processes, diversity, and representation. This helped students comparatively evaluate the democratic legitimacy of the U.S. and India’s constitutional founding.

Session Readings:

Presentation Slides: Session I Part I

Part II

CLPR resource persons introduced students to ‘due process’ and ‘procedure established by law’—two important concepts relating to the constitutional protection of liberty. Students were provided with a summary of how U.S. and Indian Constitution framers engaged with these concepts. This was followed by an activity where students engaged with a hypothetical case designed by CLPR that involved questions of liberty as seen through the eyes of U.S. and Indian Constitution framers.

Session Readings:

Presentation Slides: Session I Part II

Speaker Remarks

Dr. Amal Sethi, Senior Fellow, University of Hamburg, closed the session with his remarks. Dr. Sethi suggested that the primary conceptual prism through which one must evaluate the U.S. and Indian Constitutions is ‘constitutional endurance’. The fundamental commonality between the two constitutions, Sethi argued, was that they survived the test of time. He proceeded to discuss why some constitutions endure while others collapse. A student Question and Answer Session followed.

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11.45 am – 1:45 pm – Session II: Personal Liberty and Freedom of Choice

Part I

CLPR resource persons provided an overview of the constitutional and legal architecture that governed personal liberty and freedom of choice in the U.S. and India. In the discussion that followed, students aimed to understand if and how the U.S and India Supreme Courts expanded personality liberty while deciding cases. Students then located the Right to Marry and Right to Choice within the two constitutional regimes.

Session Readings:

Presentation Slides: Session II Part I

Part II

Students were introduced to two cases relating to the right to marry: Loving v Virginia, 1967 (U.S.) and Shafin Jahan v Ashokan, 2018 (India). Students engaged with both the cases, paying particular attention to how the Indian and U.S. Courts applied (or didn’t apply) the Right to Liberty and Freedom in these cases. This was followed by a discussion on religious conversion laws and inter-racial marriages.

Session Readings:

Presentation slides: Session II Part II

Speaker Remarks

Senior Advocate Jayna Kothari, Executive Director of CLPR, concluded the session by closely tracking the Courts’ reasoning in Loving v Virginia, 1967 and Shafin Jahan v Ashokan, 2018. Ms. Kothari suggested to students that the Right to Marry was not just a matter of freedom but also equality.