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Constitutional Defiance
In news which perhaps did not receive the attention it deserved, the federal leader of the opposition, Thomas Mulcair, announced that, if he becomes Prime Minister following the next federal election, he would imitate the current Prime Minister and refuse to appoint any Senators. La Presse quotes him as saying that [t]he Senate is like
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Farewell 2014
… You won’t be much missed. But blogging-wise, if not in other ways, it was a good year. And, the powers-that-be-in-Canadian-law-blogging have ruled that Double Aspect is the “Best Canadian Law Blog” of the year, which is a great honour. I am very grateful to those who have nominated my blog, and especially to those
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Seasonal Thoughts
‘Tis the season for, among other things, lots of food, lots of drink, and legal philosophy. Because it’s always the season for legal philosophy, right? It’s also the season for being lazy. So instead of a serious blog post, here are two passages I’ve recently come across ― one about food, the other about drink,
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Not Beyond Interpretation
This afternoon, the Québec Court of Appeal delivered its opinion in the Reference re Section 98 of the Constitution Act, 1867 ― which asked it to pronounce on the constitutionality of the appointment, to the Court, of Justice Robert Mainville who was, at the time of that appointment, a judge of the Federal Court of
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A Diversity of Diversities
There has been some rather unpleasant controversy over judicial appointments of late, following the appointment of professors Grant Huscroft and Bradley Miller to the bench in Ontario. The Globe and Mail‘s Sean Fine has been busily pushing the narrative of “conservative” appointments, focusing on the new appointees’ criticism of Canadian courts and laws. On Twitter, La
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Humanism’s Heirs
Richard Posner is much on my mind these days. Partly that’s due to the excellent “Posner on Posner” extended-profile-and-interview-series by Ronald Collins over at Concurring Opinions (the latest instalment of which is here); partly to my (re)reading a couple of his books on adjudication (How Judges Think and Reflections on Judging); partly to his recent controversial
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Judge Kopf on Mandatory Minimums
At his blog Hercules and the Umpire, Richard G. Kopf, a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska, has a fascinating post on mandatory minimum sentences, which I would urge anyone who has been following the Canadian debate about them to read. (Indeed, this is the rare occasion on which you should
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« Suffisamment québécois »
Le nouveau juge en chef de la Cour d’appel fédérale, Marc Noël, a récemment prononcé un discours qui explique très bien les problèmes soulevés par l’avis rendu par la Cour suprême dans l’Affaire Nadon, Renvoi relatif à la Loi sur la Cour suprême, art. 5 et 6, 2014 CSC 21, [2014] 1 R.C.S. 433. Ces problèmes, sont aussi au
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#Clawbies2014
The end of the year is just around the corner, and this means that it’s time for the Clawbies ― the (virtual) awards given out to (some of) the best Canadian law blogs. So here, without further ado (and in no particular order) are my nominations. Paul Daly’s Administrative Law Matters: I nominated Prof. Daly’s
Double Aspect 