Leonid Sirota
@doubleaspect.blog
Legal academic; mostly Canadian and comparative public law. Associate Professor @unirdg-law.bsky.social; Senior Fellow, Macdonald Laurier Institute; blogger, doubleaspect.blog
New post: my thoughts on the SCC's Democracy Watch decision, and why Canadian administrative law continues not making sense. doubleaspect.blog/2026/08/04/j...
Jurisdictional Jiu-Jitsu
The Supreme Court clarifies the scope of the constitutional guarantee of judicial review, but fails at reinventing the wheel
doubleaspect.blog
ICYMI: My book project on constitutional interpretation, under contract with Hart. doubleaspect.blog/2026/06/25/b...
Booking
My plan for a forthcoming book on constitutional interpretation in Canada
doubleaspect.blog
In the European Human Rights Law Review. In case you don't have access to the published version, the author version is here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Can States Throw Away the Key? Critiquing Human Rights Law Approaches to Whole Life Sentences
In this article, we examine the jurisprudence on the compatibility of irreducible life sentences with human rights under three rights-protecting instruments: th
papers.ssrn.com
Guy Baldwin@guyjbaldwin.bsky.social · last mo.This is out! @doubleaspect.blog
New post: a bit more about the book project I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, including a brief outline of the chapters. doubleaspect.blog/2026/06/25/b...
Monkey Typewriter
ALT: Monkey Typewriter
static.klipy.com
ICYMI: I have resigned as Senior Fellow of the Macdonald Laurier Institute, because I think it has turned away from, and indeed against, judicial independence and the Rule of Law. doubleaspect.blog/2026/06/24/n...
I have resigned as Senior Fellow of the Macdonald Laurier Institute, which in my view has abandoned its commitment to constitutionalism and the Rule of Law in Canada and become adverse to these principles. A bit more on my reasons for having come to this conclusion: doubleaspect.blog/2026/06/24/n...
Not My Circus
Why I have resigned from the Macdonald-Laurier Institute
doubleaspect.blog
So this is happening! Many thanks to the reviewers, and to those who have read my proposal and sample chapter draft, and heard me present ideas that will be going into this over the years. I'm looking forward to sharing more as the manuscript takes shape.
So this is happening! Many thanks to the reviewers, and to those who have read my proposal and sample chapter draft, and heard me present ideas that will be going into this over the years. I'm looking forward to sharing more as the manuscript takes shape.
My latest for @jotwell.bsky.social is a review of @lewisgrahamlaw.bsky.social's forthcoming article on the use of s 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 by UK courts. conlaw.jotwell.com/doctrine-by-...
Doctrine by the Numbers - Constitutional Law
Lewis Graham, Interpreting the Interpretive Obligation: Empirical Insights into the Use of Section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998, __ Oxford J. Legal Stud. __ (Mar. 14, 2026).Leonid SirotaIt is not di...
conlaw.jotwell.com
ICYMI: Those of us who oppose populist shortcuts in response to judicial incompetence or wilfulness do not owe the populists "options". doubleaspect.blog/2026/05/08/y...
You Can’t Have a Pony
The solution to the Supreme Court’s problems is long, hard work — not coddling populists
doubleaspect.blog
New post: if you care about the Rule of Law, you need to work to make the Supreme Court of Canada care too — not give populists "options" for blowing it up. doubleaspect.blog/2026/05/08/y...
You Can’t Have a Pony
The solution to the Supreme Court’s problems is long, hard work — not coddling populists
doubleaspect.blog
New post, responding to @emmettmacfarlane.com: the Supreme Court's cases on constitutional interpretation really are irredeemably inconsistent, and this matters — not just for theoretical purity. doubleaspect.blog/2026/05/07/i...
Indefensible
There is no defence for the Supreme Court’s erratic approach to constitutional interpretation
doubleaspect.blog
ICYMI: Perhaps the Supreme Court's comments on constitutional interpretation in Alford are just noise. But the thing is, so is everything it says on the topic. doubleaspect.blog/2026/05/06/t...
The Rest Is Noise
We can’t just be discerning about which of the Supreme Court’s pronouncements on constitutional interpretation to pay attention. None of them mean anything.
doubleaspect.blog
New post: can @pauldalyesq.bsky.social's "signal/noise" lens help us see more clearly through the SCC's cases on constitutional interpretation? I'm afraid not, because none of them provide signal.
The Rest Is Noise
We can’t just be discerning about which of the Supreme Court’s pronouncements on constitutional interpretation to pay attention. None of them mean anything.
doubleaspect.blog
ICYMI: In the Alford case, the Supreme Court again ignores precedent on constitutional interpretation — this time, precedent that's barely a few weeks old. doubleaspect.blog/2026/05/04/s...
Spinning the Wheel
The Supreme Court keeps changing its approach to constitutional interpretation, with no acknowledgment or explanation
doubleaspect.blog
New post: there is no method to the madness of the Supreme Court of Canada's treatment of constitutional interpretation: cases decided weeks ago can be discarded in favour of decades' old ones, and no acknowledgment, let alone explanation, is given.
doubleaspect.blog
Re-posting, on what would have been the late Queen's 100th birthday, the little note I wrote when she passed away. doubleaspect.blog/2022/09/09/i...
In Memoriam Reginae
What the Queen meant to me
doubleaspect.blog
Bernard Drainville not becoming Premier of Quebec is also a small defeat for global Orbanism. We have to hope that Ms Fréchette will have the good sense not to bring back the populist and illiberal "Constitution", as Mr Drainville would have. montrealgazette.com/news/provinc...
Christine Fréchette named new CAQ leader and premier
Fréchette was competing against Bernard Drainville to become François Legault's successor.
montrealgazette.com
ICYMI: the Supreme Court of Canada recently said that constitutional interpretation is nothing like statutory interpretation; but not that long ago it was saying the opposite. An explanation, let alone consistency, is apparently too much to hope for. doubleaspect.blog/2026/04/09/n...
doubleaspect.blog
New post: the Supreme Court of Canada recently said that constitutional interpretation is nothing like statutory interpretation; but not that long ago it was saying the opposite. An explanation, let alone consistency, is apparently too much to hope for. doubleaspect.blog/2026/04/09/n...
Nothing Matters Still
The Supreme Court’s recent pronouncements on constitutional interpretation are inconsistent with precedent, but the Court doesn’t care
doubleaspect.blog
ICYMI: My analysis of the Supreme Court's latest pronouncements on constitutional interpretation, which contain precious little wisdom. doubleaspect.blog/2026/03/24/t...
The Cavemen Are Back
The Supreme Court’s majority goes back to constitutionalism from Plato’s cave, which earlier cases seemed to abandon
doubleaspect.blog
New post: the Supreme Court of Canada judges had a lot to say about constitutional interpretation in the recent Taylor case, and not much of it was very good. doubleaspect.blog/2026/03/24/t...
The Cavemen Are Back
The Supreme Court’s majority goes back to constitutionalism from Plato’s cave, which earlier cases seemed to abandon
doubleaspect.blog
ICYMI: The Supreme Court of Canada discussed constitutional interpretation at length in a decision last month; I summarize the opinions and discuss the textual aspects of the decision here: doubleaspect.blog/2026/03/23/m...
Moving Rights
A summary of the opinions on constitutional interpretation in the Supreme Court’s interprovincial travel decision
doubleaspect.blog
New post: what the various opinions in the SCC's recent Taylor case have said about constitutional interpretation, and why as a textual matter Kasirer and Jamal JJ are right, and the majority and Rowe J are wrong. doubleaspect.blog/2026/03/23/m...
Moving Rights
A summary of the opinions on constitutional interpretation in the Supreme Court’s interprovincial travel decision
doubleaspect.blog
Looks like a first Canadian judgment that is full of AI hallucinations. If so, I hope Geoffroy J has the good sense to resign, and quickly. www.lapresse.ca/actualites/j...
Fausse jurisprudence, vrai malaise | Un juge a-t-il succombé à la tentation de l’IA ?
Lorsqu’il a entraîné des investisseurs de Québec dans la retentissante débâcle du groupe Huot, l’homme d’affaires Robert Giroux a fait preuve d’un manque de transparence que rien ne saurait justifier,...
lapresse.ca
Pleased to be part of this. I defend the ONCA's approach to constitutional interpretation, criticize the SCC's persistent mishandling of the Charter's s 3, and caution that courts must remain vigilant in election law—misplaced deference is as wrong as unwarranted interventionism.
Centre for Constitutional Studies@centreconststud.bsky.social · 5mo agoWe're excited to announce publication of a new special issue of the Constitutional Forum, focusing on the Ontario Court's Appeal's decision in Fair Voting BC (a constitutional challenge to Canada's electoral system). You can access the full issue here: www.constitutionalstudies.ca/2026/03/foru...
New post: introducing my new article on Canadian constitutional conventions being forgotten or disregarded. doubleaspect.blog/2026/02/24/f...
Forget Me Not
Introducing an article about the forgetting of Canadian constitutional conventions
doubleaspect.blog
Finally published, in the Dalhousie LJ: a piece looking at widespread, and sometimes wilful, forgetting of some constitutional conventions in Canada, and wondering what, if anything, might be done about it. Paper available at: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
New post: the Quebec Justice Minister says the federal government is negotiating to give the province a role in judicial appointments. If this is true, this must be brought to light — and stopped. doubleaspect.blog/2026/02/13/w...
What Is Going On?
Is the federal government in the process of giving away its judicial appointment powers?
doubleaspect.blog