I am off on what promises to be an electronics-free holiday until the start of July. On my return, I expect to have a look at the interesting decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Elgin v. Department of the Treasury, discussed here by Steve Vladeck. One of the issues there is […] Read more

Another example from the Canadian courts of the thin line separating process from substance: Turner v. Canada (Attorney General), 2012 FCA 159. On this occasion, the determination that a question went to process is again plausible at first sight but troubling on closer inspection. The applicant here alleged that he was discriminated against by the […] Read more

Last week, the New York Times published a lengthy article on the ‘secret kill list’ being maintained by President Obama. Whatever the merits of targeted killings as a matter of international law, international human rights law, or justice, for students of administrative law, there are at least three aspects of interest to the story. To […] Read more

I have posted a revised version of my article on form and substance in Canadian judicial review doctrine on SSRN. It is now forthcoming in the Osgoode Hall Law Journal. The abstract is as follows: The standard of review analysis for judicial review of administrative action developed over the course of four decades by the […] Read more

The highest courts of both the United States and Canada have both recently pronounced on claims relating to the unfairness of local government taxation systems. Before the Supreme Court of Canada, the argument went to the substantive reasonableness of the municipal by-law at issue. Further south, the Supreme Court of the United States was asked […] Read more

Je pensais de garder cette décision jusqu’au retour en classe des étudiants du préscolaire à la fin de l’été, mais finalement j’ai conclu que les principes découlant de ladite décision sont trop intéressants pour les cacher plus longtemps. La Cour d’appel y explique très clairement les principes de la révision judiciaire au Québec. Au centre […] Read more

The federal government’s use of an omnibus budget bill to enact measures affecting a variety of different areas has come under sustained attack(you can also listen to the comments of my colleague, Stéphane Beaulac, from the three-minute mark here). Whatever one thinks about the substance of the underlying reforms, one can certainly quibble about the […] Read more

Last week the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia upheld against constitutional challenge a delegation of power to Amtrak to develop performance standards. One of the grounds on which the challengers in Association of American Railroads v. Department of Transportation relied was that Amtrak was a private entity. American constitutional law doctrine looks […] Read more

Another example, this time from the Manitoba Court of Appeal, of a decision-maker stretching language too far. In Darcis v. Manitoba, 2012 MBCA 49, an arbitrator was the guilty party, in respect of an agreement concluded between the Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation, Canada, Manitoba and the Manitoba Hydro-Electric Board. This agreement was an exception to a […] Read more

Administrative agencies are generally entitled to develop policies. Doing so assists agencies in discharging their statutory mandates in a coherent and consistent manner. Those who come into contact with agencies also benefit: it ought to be easier to predict the application of a general rule than the exercise of discretion. From the Court of Appeal […] Read more