Founder,
Double Aspect;
Senior lecturer, Auckland University of Technology
Law School.
leonid.sirota at aut.ac.nz
I teach public law and legal philosophy at the Auckland University of Technology. I am also the director of the LLM programme there. Prior to coming to New Zealand, I got a B.C.L./LL.B. (Hons.) from McGill, clerked for Justice Tremblay-Lamer at the Federal Court of Canada, and obtained an LL.M. (in legal theory) and a J.S.D. at the NYU School of Law.
My research concerns a variety of public law topics, focusing mostly on Canada but occasionally venturing to other jurisdictions. I have written on constitutional conventions, on the freedoms of conscience and religion, on the law of democracy, on constitutional interpretation, on judicial review of administrative decisions, on the Rule of Law, and sometimes on other issues.
Publications
Scholarly
- “How not to decide a Bill of Rights case” [2020] New Zealand Law Journal 410
- “Rebuilt on Sand: Canadian Administrative Law after Vavilov” (2020) 31 Public Law Review 117
- “Unholy Trinity: The Failure of Administrative Constitutionalism in Canada” (2020) 2 Journal of Commonwealth Law 1
- “A Citizen’s Guide to the Rule of Law” in Peter L. Biro (ed), Constitutional Democracy under Stress: A Time for Heroic Citizenship (2020) 104
- “Immuring Dicey’s Ghost: The Senate Reform Reference and Constitutional Conventions” (2020) 51(2) Ottawa Law Review 313
- “Through Which Glass Darkly? Constitutional Principle in Legality and Constitutionality Review” (2020) 49 Common Law World Review 131
- “The Rule of Law All the Way Up” in Maxime St-Hilaire and Joanna Baron (eds) (2019) 92 Supreme Court Law Review (2d): Attacks on the Rule of Law from Within 79
- “Breaking the Silence: New Zealand’s Courts and Parliament after Attorney-General v Taylor” (2019) 30 Public Law Review 13
- Review of In Search of Consensus: New Zealand’s Electoral Act
1956 and its Constitutional Legacy by Elizabeth McLeay, (2018) 33(2) Australasian Parliamentary Review 174 - (as editor, with Paul Daly) A Decade of Dunsmuir/Les 10 ans de Dunsmuir (2018) special issue of the Canadian Journal of Administrative Law and Practice
- “Canadian Administrative Law and Good Governance” (2018) 31(3) Canadian Journal of Administrative Law and Practice 285
- “Constitutional Dialogue: The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act and the Noble Dream” (2017) 27(4A) New Zealand Universities Law Review 897.
- “More v Roper: A Comment on Lawrence Solum’s Defence of Originalism” (2017) 31(3) Diritto Pubblico Comparato ed Europeo Online 635
- “Was the Supreme Court right to change the law on the right to a speedy trial?” (2017) 26(3) Constitutional Forum
- “Happy Sisyphus: A Review Article of G Palmer and A Butler A Constitution for Aotearoa New Zealand”, (2017) 27(3) New Zealand Universities Law Review 789
- (with Benjamin Oliphant) “Originalist Reasoning in Canadian Constitution Jurisprudence”, (2017) 50(2) UBC Law Review 505
- “The Supreme Court and the Conventions of the Constitution”, (2017) 78 Supreme Court Law Review (2d) 31
- (with Benjamin Oliphant) “Has the Supreme Court of Canada Rejected ‘Originalism’?” (2016) 42(1) Queen’s Law Journal 107
- (With Maxime St-Hilaire) “Canadian Voter Identification Requirements in a Comparative Perspective”, in Gregory Tardi (ed.), The Informed Citizens’ Guide to Elections: Electioneering Based on the Rule of Law 517 (2015)
- “‘Third Parties’ and Democracy 2.0”, (2015) 60(2) McGill Law Journal 253
- “True Allegiance: The Citizenship Oath and the Charter”, (2014) 33(2) National Journal of Constitutional Law 137
- (with Fabien Gélinas) “Constitutional Conventions and Senate Reform”, (2013) 5 Revue Québécoise de Droit Constitutionnel 107
- “Storm and Havoc: Religious Exemptions and the Rule of Law”,(2013) 47(2) Revue Juridique Thémis de l’Université de Montréal 247
- “Towards a Jurisprudence of Constitutional Conventions”, (2011) 11(1) Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal 29
General Media
- “The trouble with doing something about ‘Big Tech’”, The Line, November 10, 2020
- (with Asher Honickman) “In a free society, the government can, and sometimes must, direct the police”, The National Post, February 25, 2020
- (with Asher Honickman) “What the rule of law is, and why it matters — for everyone”, The National Post, February 19, 2020
- “For a university that deserves the name”, Newsroom, August 2, 2019
- (with Mark Mancini) “The SNC-Lavalin Affair: Why Governments Are Not Angels”, Law Matters, Spring 2019
- “Oil and gas bill missing out on important and orderly scrutiny”, Stuff/Dominion Post, October 11, 2018
- (with Maxime St-Hilaire) “Le DGE applique bien une mauvaise loi”, LaPresse, September 29, 2018
- “Tan candienses como permitan las circunstancias” (paywalled), Politica Exterior, July/August 2017 at 42
- “A Critique of Democracy, Not an Attack”, Newsroom, May 1, 2017
- “As a way to express one’s views about public affairs, a vote is remarkably ineffective”, Stuff/Dominion Post, April 21, 2017
- (with Maxime St-Hilaire) “Comprendre la révision de la carte électorale”, La Presse+, February 27, 2017
- “There Will Be No Harper Revolution”, Policy Options, October 2015
- “La Secesion Unilateral: Una Perspectiva Canadiense”, Agenda Publica, September 2, 2015
- “The expat vote: What we’re getting wrong, and why it still matters”, OpenCanada.org, July 29, 2015
- “The Supreme Court versus Economics”, The National Post, February 19, 2015 at A19
- “Le mirage de la neutralité de l’État”, La Presse.ca, August 16, 2012
- “Élections: les étudiants bâillonés?”, La Presse.ca, April 14, 2012
Videos
- “How to Decide How to Interpret the Constitution“, Runnymede Society, May 14, 2020
- “Administrative Law ― Vavilov and the Supreme Court of Canada” (with Jamie Chai Yun Liew and Brandon Kain), Runnymede Society, February 29, 2020
- “Bill 21, The Notwithstanding Clause, and Section 28 of the Charter” (with Geoffrey Sigalet and Bruce Pardy), Runnymede Society, February 29, 2020
- “Dissecting TWU” (with Jennifer Raso and Howard Kislowicz), Centre for Constitutional Studies, September 13, 2018
- “The Rule of Law All the Way Up“, Runnymede Society, January 13, 2018
- “‘Dirty Word’ or Dirty Little Secret: Originalism in Canada“, Runnmyede Society, February 2017
Podcasts and Interviews
- “Léonid Sirota on Canadian Originalism”, Ipse Dixit, July 26, 2019
- “Should I bother voting?”, AUT Afraid to Ask, 2017
- “Is s. 33 a Loaded Gun or a Useful Tool?”, Runnymede Radio, 2017
- “Are We All Originalists Now?”, Runnymede Radio, 2017
- “The Politics of Judicial Appointments, Part II”, McGill Law Journal Podcast, November 4, 2015
- “Should long-term expats get the vote“, CBC Radio The 180, July 25, 2015”
