Political philosophy

August 21, 2012

Le mépris de Pauline Marois

J’ai essayé, depuis le début de ce blogue, de le garder non-partisan. Cependant, lorsqu’un parti politique propose des mesures non seulement à l’encontre, mais au mépris des droits fondamentaux et de la constitution et de la loi qui les protègent, je dois le dénoncer. C’est ce que fait aujourd’hui le Parti québécois. Comme le rapporte Continue reading

Constitutional law, Political philosophy

citoyenneté, elections, language rights, Pauline Marois, politics, politique, Québec
August 17, 2012

The Fantasy of State Neutrality

This is a translation of my op-ed that that was published yesterday on the website of La Presse. *** The Parti Québécois proposes, if it wins the elections, to enact a « Charte de la laïcité » (Charter of secularism) for Québec. This charter would, among other things, prohibit civil servants from wearing “ostentatious religious symbols.” This prohibition Continue reading

Constitutional law, Law and Religion, Political philosophy

Charte de la honte, Charte de laïcité, laïcité, Québec, religion, secularism
July 23, 2012

Go Ask Your Mom!

Is it conceivable that states, like a child who, denied by one parent, asks the other to let them stay up late, ask around for permission to do something they would not normally be permitted? Lord Atkin enlisted the threat of such a course of action as an argument in his famous opinion for the Continue reading

Constitutional Theory, Political philosophy

federalism, government
July 18, 2012

No Resraint

The Superior Court of Québec issued a potentially far-reaching decision last week, declaring a number of provisions of the Expenditure Restraint Act, S.C. 2009, c. 2, s. 393, constitutionally inapplicable to the CBC/Société Radio-Canada. In Association des Réalisateurs c. Canada (Procureur Général), 2012 QCCS 3223, justice Lise Matteau held that the application of provisions limiting Continue reading

Constitutional law, Political philosophy

collective bargaining, freedom of association, government, unions
July 17, 2012

The Prerogative of High-Handedness

Today, the Federal Court of Canada has issued its decision in Turp v. Canada (Justice), 2012 FC 893, rejecting Daniel Turp’s challenge to the federal government’s decision to withdraw Canada from the Kyoto Protocol. Unambiguously correct in law, this decision illustrates the importance of politics, and the limits of the power of the courts to hold governments Continue reading

Constitutional law, Political philosophy, The Justice System

federal court of canada, Kyoto, politics, underlying principles
July 16, 2012

The Moneyed Interests

Restrictions on pre-electoral spending by citizens and groups other than political parties and their candidates (known in the jargon as “third-party spending”) have gained a rather unlikely supporter: Tom Flanagan. Prof. Flanagan, arguably Canada’s most prominent conservative thinker, has come out in support of such restrictions in an op-ed in the Globe and Mail. This Continue reading

Constitutional law, Law of Democracy, Political philosophy

campaign spending, election law, elections, john rawls, politics, unions
July 8, 2012

Arguing with Death, Again

I wrote, three months ago now, about the sorts of arguments people make for and against the death penalty. Contrary perhaps to our intuitions, from at least the times of Thucydides, death penalty’s opponents have tended to resort to consequentialist arguments, while its supporters have relied on appeals to justice. A couple of interviews the Continue reading

Constitutional Theory, Political philosophy

argument, consequentialism, death penalty, justice
June 30, 2012

The Separation of Spending and Speech

I commented yesterday onVincent Marissal’s column in La Presse about the impact of social media on the upcoming election campaign in Québec – and the way in which the social media undermine the regulation of the electoral process that limits the electoral expenses of “third parties” – citizens, groups, or organizations that are neither political Continue reading

Constitutional law, Law of Democracy, New Technologies, Political philosophy

election law, elections, médias sociaux, politics, social media
June 15, 2012

The Chinese Court of Public Opinion

In one of my first posts, I asked the question “[w]hat is the place of the court of public opinion in the judicial hierarchy?” I was concerned at a story in which, as I described it, “in a few hours the court of public opinion heard and allowed an appeal from the Québec Court of Continue reading

Political philosophy, The Justice System

courts, public opinion, social media
June 12, 2012

The Good of Religion: Video

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about a discussion with professor Robert P. George, of Princeton, about “religious liberty and the common good.” The video of the discussion is below. Continue reading

Constitutional law, Law and Religion, Political philosophy

religion, religious exemptions, Robert P. George