Constitutional Theory
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All or Nothing At All?: Restricting the Growth of the Administrative State
Non-delegation limits do not spell the end of administrative government. Continue reading
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Environmental Sustainability is Not An Unwritten Constitutional Principle
On the IACL-AIDC Blog, Professor Lynda Collins (Ottawa) suggests that “ecological sustainability [should be recognized] as an Unwritten Constitutional Principle (UCP)—a foundational, binding norm to provide guidance to courts and legislators as we navigate the difficult waters of our current environmental crisis.” This argument also appeared in a joint article by Prof. Collins and (now… Continue reading
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Judges are Subject to Law, Too
Last summer, I wrote a blog post about a concerning case out of the Federal Court, Girouard v CJC. The gist of the case was the claim by the Canadian Judicial Council (CJC) that their reports, recommendations, and decisions in the course of the investigation of a judge were not subject to judicial review under… Continue reading
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Why Governments Are Not Angels
The SNC-Lavalin affair reveals serious challenges to the functioning of all three branches of the Canadian government Continue reading
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Nothing to Celebrate
Québec’s irreligious dress code proposal isn’t an opportunity to extol democracy, or to do away with judicial review of legislation Continue reading
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Abellian “Law”
It is with an utter lack of surprise that I yet again fill the virtual pages of Double Aspect with thoughts on another of Justice Abella’s comments on the nature of judging. Both Leonid and I have continuously written about how Justice Abella frequently displays a judicial arrogance that is inconsistent with the role of… Continue reading
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Judicial Supremacy, Again
Another attack on judicial supremacy misses the mark Continue reading
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Lessening Us: The Supreme Court and SNC-Lavalin
The SNC-Lavalin episode gets worse, if that is possible. Continue reading
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The Empty Canard of the Living Tree “Doctrine”
In 1989, Justice Scalia gave a speech entitled “Assorted Canards of Contemporary Legal Analysis.” These “canards,” are “certain oft-repeated statements…” that, while having “little actual impact upon the decision of the case” are “part of its atmospherics, or of its overarching philosophy…” Justice Scalia gave the example of the old adage that “remedial statutes should… Continue reading
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Romancing the Law
An ode to formalism and reflections on Runnymede’s Law and Freedom Conference Continue reading
