blogging
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Uber and Civil Disobedience
I have a new post over at the National Magazine’s Blog, arguing that to the extent that Uber and other firms of the sharing economy breach the laws that prevent them from offering their services to the public, we should assess their claims that such laws are unjust on their merits, instead of rejecting them Continue reading
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Farewell, Hercules and the Umpire!
I blogged about Richard G. Kopf’s Hercules and the Umpire, a couple of years ago, when I first discovered it. Its author is a senior (in Canada, we would say “supernumerary” ― but I think “senior” sounds better) federal district judge in the District of Nebraska. I wrote, at the time, that Judge Kopf “is Continue reading
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The Harm in a Hate Speech Bill
Last week, I criticized Québec’s Bill 59, which would notably introduce a very broad prohibition on “hate speech” in provincial law. This morning, the CBA National Magazine’s blog publishes an English version of some of my criticisms, focusing on one of the bill’s unique aspects, the inclusion of “political convictions” in the list of “prohibited Continue reading
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Une note aux lecteurs ― A Note to Readers
(English follows) Une petite note à l’intention de mes lecteurs racistes, islamophobes ou antisémites, et en particuliers à ceux qui semblent être devenus mes fans depuis que j’ai publié un billet dénonçant le projet de loi québécois visant à interdire le « discours haineux »: ce n’est pas parce que je défends votre liberté d’expression que j’ai envie Continue reading
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A Dissent on Mainville
Readers may recall that last summer, when the issue of the constitutionality of Justice Mainville’s appointment to the Québec Court of Appeal was raised, Maxime St-Hilaire argued that the appointment was unconstitutional. First the Québec Court of Appeal and now the Supreme Court have ruled that Justice Mainville’s appointment was indeed constitutional, as I argued in response Continue reading
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Courts and Eligibility to the Senate
I wrote something stupid here earlier. I thought it was very clever, of course. But I didn’t read the Constitution Act 1867, carefully enough. Of course the courts cannot pronounce on the qualifications of a sitting Senator, as Aniz Alani was kind enough to point out to me. Making a public fool of oneself is Continue reading
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Politicians in Robes?
I have a new post up at the CBA National Magazine’s blog, in which I summarize and discuss a most fascinating study by Dan Kahan and his colleagues at Yale’s Cultural Cognition Project. The study tried to establish, empirically, whether judges, lawyers, law students, and members of the general public would be influenced in the Continue reading
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Toddling On
Double Aspect turns three today. An occasion for deep thoughts, I suppose. So here is one, stolen, as the best deep (and, for that matter, shallow) thoughts are ― specifically, from Douglas Adams’ description of the BBC’s reaction to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy back when it was a radio show. It was, Adams Continue reading
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For a Formidable Opposition
The CBA National Magazine’s blog published a new post of mine yesterday, in which I argue that it is important that courts and their decisions be scrutinized and, on occasion, criticized. As the debate debate about “judicial activism” has been playing out in the last month or so (there are, at this point, too many Continue reading
Double Aspect 