From the High Court of Australia, a fascinating case on bias, resulting in a narrow 3-2 win for an immigrant who had been refused a protection visa: CNY17 v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection [2019] HCA 50. The split on the Court illustrates how difficult applying the rule against bias can be and, in […] Read more
My inaugural lecture as the University Research Chair in Administrative Law & Governance takes place on Wednesday evening, 5pm (register here). Here is the introductory section of the lecture. The rest will follow on Wednesday evening... We live in a world of increasing complexity, submerged by tidal waves of statutes, delegated legislation, soft law, judicial […] Read more
On the reading list for this week’s installment of the Administrative Law & Governance colloquium was Jeffrey A Pojanowski’s article, “Neoclassical Administrative Law“. Here is the abstract: This Article introduces an approach to administrative law that reconciles a more formalist, classical understanding of law and its supremacy with the contemporary administrative state. Courts adopting this […] Read more
I’ve been reading and listening closely (or, at least, as closely as time will allow) to the post-Vavilov output of Canadian courts and commentators. I have been struck by a number of things. First, some people are very confident that they are absolutely sure what the effects of Vavilov will be. For my part, although […] Read more
The first of this year’s Administrative Law & Governance Colloquium kicks off next week with Professor Gillian Metzger (Columbia) on the topic of “Legitimacy”: Monday February 24, FTX 137 (First floor, Fauteux Hall, 57 Louis Pasteur, K1N 6N5), 17:00 to 19:00. All are welcome to attend — there will even be pizza. Discussion will turn […] Read more
More details will follow in due course, but readers may appreciate knowing that on Monday, April 20, I am organizing a day-long conference on Vavilov, to take place in the Desmarais Building at the University of Ottawa (with support from the Alex Trebek Forum for Dialogue, the Centre for Public Law and the Health Policy […] Read more
If you are going to be in Ottawa on March 4, 2020, you can come to my inaugural lecture (and reception), at the University of Ottawa (Fauteux Hall, Room 302, 57 Louis Pasteur Private, Ottawa K1N 6N5, at 5pm). Sign up here. Here is the abstract: We live in a world of increasing complexity, submerged […] Read more
What are the social media behemoths — Facebook, Google, Netflix, Twitter, Youtube, etc — that have come to dominate much of the contemporary public sphere? Answering this question is crucial to determining what role courts, economic regulators and legislatures should play in respect of the behemoths’ activities. Are they utilities, traditionally subject to regulation, in […] Read more
Here’s the blurb for next week’s CIAJ webinars on Vavilov (English on Wednesday; French on Thursday): In Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Vavilov, 2019 SCC 65, the Supreme Court of Canada developed a new framework for judicial review of administrative action, focusing on two issues: selecting the standard of review and applying the […] Read more
See now “One Year of Vavilov“ Courts around Canada are beginning to apply the Vavilov framework. It is still (just about) too early to draw any firm conclusions. Nonetheless, even at this early stage in the life of Vavilovian judicial review there have been some interesting decisions. I have cbeen coming back to this post […] Read more