constitutional law

Laurence H. Tribe: The president is not immune from prosecution when performing his constitutionally authorized duties

Why Harper is not creating a formally elected Senate

The B.C. Court of Appeal’s ruling on Vancouver’s Insite shooting gallery for heroin addicts makes for interesting reading. We are all so busy arguing over the merits of harm reduction, and the wisdom of the Harper government’s attempt to shut down the clinic, that it is easy to forget the big constitutional issue that was the chief concern of the court here. You would think that Canadian jurisprudence had developed a clear objective rule for settling even the trickiest “double aspect” issues, wherein both federal and provincial governments can claim that some crumb falls within their respective spheres of constitutional power.

…is seriously not popular with some of the country’s finest constitutionalists. But surely people who’ve read Pierre Trudeau’s constitution and — shudder — teach it for a living are part of the Vast Liberal Plot, no? Anyway, Kady has details.

SPOTTED! A LIVE GOVERNMENT STAFFER UPDATE: Funny how much more quickly one hears from ministers’ offices when one doesn‘t ask a question. From Peter Van Loan’s office:

I see that you’ve started to pay attention to the proceedings at the legislative committee on Bill C-20 (Senate consultations).