I teach public law and legal philosophy at the Auckland University of Technology. 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. A list of my publications is below.
You can contact me at leonid.sirota at aut.ac.nz. I’m also on Twitter as @DoubleAspect.
My publications:
Scholarly
- “Immuring Dicey’s Ghost: The Senate Reform Reference and Constitutional Conventions” (2020) 51(2) Ottawa Law Review (forthcoming)
- “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
- “Rants and Freedoms: Can Universities Control Students’ Online Speech?”, (2012) 13(2) Internet and E-Commerce Law in Canada 13
- “Towards a Jurisprudence of Constitutional Conventions”, (2011) 11(1) Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal 29
In the general media:
- (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
Podcasts and media 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
I have also contributed, more less occasionally, original posts to other blogs: the CBA National Magazine’s Blog; that of Policy Options; and I-CONnect. In addition, almost all of my posts commenting on recent judicial decisions are cross-posted (sometimes with some modifications) on CanLII Connects, and some posts have been cross-posted to Advocates for the Rule of Law.
