Lord Black's Day at the Advisory Council for the Order of Canada

If honours were given for services to administrative law, Lord Black would be a strong candidate. His lawsuit against Prime Minister Jean Chrétien gave rise to an important decision on justiciability, Black v. Canada (Prime Minister), 54 OR (3d) 215. His more recent attempt to maintain his membership of the Order of Canada has prompted another decision, again dealing with the prerogative powers of the federal government, which is likely to make the next editions of Canadian administrative law textbooks: Black v. Advisory Council for the Order of Canada, 2012 FC 1234. 

I think Justice de Montigny was broadly correct in his conclusion that Lord Black did not have the right to an oral hearing before the Advisory Council, though not necessarily for the right reasons.

Some Justiciability Hypotheticals

Blogging has been light recently: teaching, writing and administrative commitments, allied to some technical problems, have been holding me up.

Of prerogatives, rules and guidance

The UK Supreme Court decided two very interesting immigration cases the week before last, touching on two very interesting issues.

Kyoto, the Prerogative and Unwritten Constitutional Principles

My colleague Daniel Turp led a spirited challenge to the federal government's decision to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol. Spirited and all as the challenge was, it failed before the Federal Court.