Rory O'Connell

YouTube video by Zoe Gardner The TRUTH about this week’s asylum changes

The Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood sure has put on a show…

But how much is really serious & how much is just a theatre of cruelty?

Here’s the TRUTH about this week’s asylum changes

youtu.be/w6Nr4ccjMlM?...

Top Experts' Backgrounder: Military Action Against Iran and US Domestic Law Experts who advised a president answer basic questions on when action against Iran would be lawful, and what options Congress has to oppose it.

Top Experts’ Backgrounder: Military Action Against Iran and US Domestic Law

www.justsecurity.org/64645/war-po...

We had a great day today at our Belfast campus applicant event, meeting lots of future legal professionals! Looking forward to seeing many applicants join us in lectures and seminars next academic year!

Scary

Opinion | Soil, Not Blood, Determines U.S. Citizenship

Akhil Amar on birthright citizenship:

”Unless and until our Constitution is amended, our government is simply not allowed to punish innocent babies guaranteed full and equal citizenship by the Constitution itself.”

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/20/o...

Violent crime victims to receive increased State compensation after European court ruling Injured man awarded €60,000 - multiples of original €645 award received - in settlement of case against State

Violent crime victims to receive increased State compensation after European court ruling. Injured man awarded €60,000 - multiples of original €645 award received - in settlement of case against State

www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/co...

Misconducting in public office An ancient offence in the news - and how it usually is used only for junior officials

NEW

Misconducting in public office

An ancient offence in the news - and how it usually is used only for junior officials

By me

emptycity.substack.com/p/misconduct...

65. Global Governance: Promise, Power, and the Limits of the ‘Global’ In this episode of Called to the Bar, Tamsin Phillipa Paige is joined by Aoife O’Donoghue (Queen’s University Belfast), Ruth Houghton (Newcastle University), and Cher Weixia Chen (George Mason Univers

New #CalledToTheBar! @pagingdrpaige.bsky.social talks global governance with Aoife O’Donoghue, Ruth Houghton, and Cher Weixia Chen, eds of the Research Handbook on Global Governance. Power, legitimacy, critique, what the “global” really obscures and why there's hope.

soundcloud.com/calledtotheb...

Okay, this is quite outstanding from Bedford Council.

History of EU law/EU ROL - New book of interest out soon - 'The History of European Union Law Constitutional Practice, 1950 to 1993'
www.cambridge.org/core/books/h...

64. Feminist Careers in International Law In the Season 3 opener of Called to the Bar, Tamsin Phillipa Paige (Deakin Law School) is joined by an extraordinary panel to reflect on what a feminist career in international law can look like in pr

Called to the Bar is back for its 3rd (!!) season: soundcloud.com/calledtotheb... An absolute banger featuring @pagingdrpaige.bsky.social, Christine Chinkin, Dianne Otto and....Judge Hilary Charlesworth!

In the last 10 years, around 1 in 1,000 applications to the European Court of Human Rights (0.1%) led to the @echr.coe.int finding a violation of the human rights convention related to immigration.

Check out our updated factsheet on migration and the ECHR👇

🔗 go.coe.int/MJ3B2

The High Court will hand down judgment tomorrow in the judicial review against the Home Secretary’s proscription of Palestine Action.

GREAT Scholarship 2026 In partnership with the British Council and the GREAT Britain Campaign, Ulster University are offering a number of scholarships to students who are applying for postgraduate programmes (excluding…

💡𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐡, 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐊𝐞𝐧𝐲𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐮𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐊! 💡

Information on Ulster University and British Council-funded GREAT opportunities is available at www.ulster.ac.uk/global/apply....

Event: Doing the Feminist Legal Work: Early careers, activism and research funding - Doing Feminist Legal Work We invite you to attend a forthcoming online seminar on 16 February 2026 from 1pm – 3pm hosted by Dr Sarah Craig (Ulster University) and Dr Katie Nolan (TU

We invite you to attend a forthcoming online seminar on 16 February 2026 from 1pm – 3pm hosted by our Dr Sarah Craig and Dr Katie Nolan (TU Dublin) on behalf of the Doing Feminist Legal Work Network.

For more details, and to register, head to: dflw.ie/event-doing-....

💡𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁: 𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗖 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗡𝗜 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 💡

🎉Congratulations to Dr Ciara Fitzpatrick who, along with Dr Alexandra Chapman, has been awarded an EPIC Futures NI Award to undertake a collaborative project with YouthStart Consortium! For more, see: www.ulster.ac.uk/news/2026/ja...

It was an historic day today as we welcomed Ireland's President, Catherine Connolly, to our Belfast campus.

President Connolly met with some of our law students, researchers and staff in our state of the art Moot Court. She said "Clearly this is a special place designed to foster community".

The International Journal of Law in Context is looking for a co-editor-in-chief. Terrific opportunity for socio-legal scholars out there: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

⚖️ 'Persistent inequalities are not inevitable'

Senior Policy Adviser @yasminibison.bsky.social highlights the ethnic groups in the UK with an elevated risk of being in poverty, and structural factors behind why this is the case.

Community-led approaches will be vital to making a difference.

Cover of "Mapping Article 13: Academic and Scientific Freedom under the EU Charter"

Academic Freedom is under pressure.

Our latest Verfassungsbook, edited by V. KOSTA and M. MÜLLER-ELMAU (@mlme.bsky.social), puts Article 13 of the EU Charter in the spotlight and assesses its potential in light of past and present threats to academic freedom.

➡️ verfassungsblog.de/book/mapping...

#10 in Tobay Robles v. Noem (D. Minnesota, 0:26-cv-00107) – CourtListener.com ORDER. IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the hearing currently scheduled for Friday, January 30, 2026, at 1:00 pm in Courtroom 15 (MPLS) is CANCELED. See Order for details. Signed by Chief Judge Patrick J. Sc...

Read SCHILTZ’s full order: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Card showing an image of a family with a mother and two children, below a metaphorical poverty line. Text reads 'The average person in poverty now lives 29% below the poverty line, compared with 23% in the mid 1990s.

📢 The latest figures from #UKPoverty2026 reveal a picture of poverty hardening, not easing.

The average person in poverty in 2021-24 was 29% below the poverty line.

This is up from 23% in 1994-97.

As people fall further into poverty, the impact on their lives worsens.

US witnessed many ICE-related deaths in 2026. Here are their stories Shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good are two of at least nine deaths related to immigration enforcement in US.

Shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good are two of at least nine deaths related to immigration enforcement in US.

The hallowed legal principle of FAFO.

Poverty is deepening.

🔎 Our #UKPoverty2026 report was launched this morning.

People in very deep poverty now make up the biggest group of people in poverty, at 6.8 million people.

This is unacceptable for the fifth richest country in the world, and it has consequences.

Record number of people in UK live in ‘very deep poverty’, analysis shows Joseph Rowntree Foundation finds problem is ‘deeper and more damaging than at any point in the last 30 years’

About 6.8 million people – half of all those in poverty – were in very deep poverty, the highest number and proportion since records began three decades ago - @jrf-uk.bsky.social analysis
www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Death in Minnesota The significance of the reaction to the killing of Renee Nicole Good

My three @prospectmagazine.co.uk posts on the Minnesota killings and government thuggery

A death in Minnesota (Good)
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...

The new ICE Age
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...

Another death in Minnesota (Pretti)
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...

CJEU, rule of law/human rights

Judgment due Feb 26th on whether Hungary breached EU law by its allocation of the radio spectrum - in effect making it harder for critics of Orban to broadcast

Many friends asking what it is like in Minnesota right now. This video-clip tells. Masked men w/ guns in ordinary places (gas stations, grocery stores, cruising streets) intimidating ordinary people & instilling fear. As a terrorism expert, I think about the logic of government instilling fear.