judicial review
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A Voice of Moderation?
Thoughts on the Chief Justice’s Speech on “Democracy and the Judiciary” Her court might not be very busy ― it had decided only 19 cases this year through May 31, the lowest number this century ― but Chief Justice McLachlin certainly is. Another Friday, another speech. After the one she gave at the Université de Montréal‘s… Continue reading
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Why’d You Do This?
Giving Parliament more time on assisted suicide, the Supreme Court fails to explain itself On Friday, the Supreme Court issued its ruling on the federal government’s request for an extension of the suspension of the declaration of unconstitutionality of the Criminal Code’s provisions that have the effect of making assisted suicide unlawful in all circumstances.… Continue reading
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Taking Doctrine Seriously
Some thoughts on a most interesting lecture by Justice David Stratas Last week, at the Canadian Constitution Foundation’s Law and Freedom 2016 conference, Justice David Stratas of the Federal Court of Appeal delivered a fascinating lecture called “The Decline of Legal Doctrine.” I highly recommend it. I won’t summarize it beyond saying that Justice Stratas’… Continue reading
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Acting Like Grown-Ups
Is there a point to legislating when judges can do it for us? I would like to elaborate on a point I made in my last post, which discussed arguments at the Supreme Court on Monday about whether the suspension of the declaration of unconstitutionality of the across-the-board criminalization of assisted suicide should be extended.… Continue reading
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Extra Time
Assisted suicide and the trouble with giving politicians time to respond to judicial decisions This morning, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in the federal government’s application to extend the suspension of the declaration of invalidity of the Criminal Code‘s provisions that have the effect of prohibiting assisted suicide in any circumstances, which the Court granted… Continue reading
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Whatever
On Thursday, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Kanthasamy v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2015 SCC 61, an immigration law case. Paul Daly expertly discusses takes apart the majority opinion from the administrative law perspective. For my part, I will deal with the substance of the decision. While I’m not an immigration law aficionado, I do have… Continue reading
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A Cost/Benefit Analysis of Judicial Review
I want to come back to the issue of judicial review ― both of legislation and of administrative decisions ― and deference, about which I wrote earlier this week. In that post, I suggested that our views on deference in judicial review are a function of our deeper beliefs on such principles as democracy and the Rule… Continue reading
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Absence of Evidence…
Last week, the Alberta Court of Appeal delivered an interesting decision rejecting a constitutional challenge to the province’s prohibition on private health insurance brought by way of an application. In Allen v Alberta, 2015 ABCA 277, the Court held unanimously that the applicant hadn’t provided a sufficient evidentiary basis for his challenge, and that it should have been… Continue reading
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Consistency and Complexity in Judicial Review
In a (somewhat) recent post commenting on Justice Brown’s appointment to the Supreme Court, Paul Daly wrote about “an interesting paradox” in the world of judicial review of decisions by the “political branches” of government: “[t]hose [who] would defer to Parliament would not defer to the executive.” The “conservatives” who are skeptical of judicial review of… Continue reading
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Safety Regulations and the Charter
I wrote earlier this week about the decision of the Court of Appeal for Ontario R. v. Michaud, 2015 ONCA 585, which upheld the constitutionality of regulations requiring trucks to be equipped with a speed limiter that prevents them going faster than 105 km/h. The Court found that the regulations could put some truck drivers in danger by… Continue reading
Double Aspect 