You Can't Always Get What You Want

Regime Politics, the Supreme Court of Canada, and the Harper Government

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6238301
AutoresEmmett Macfarlane (0000-0002-8704-6882, University of Waterloo, autor de correspondencia)
Año2018
Volumen51
Número1
Páginas1-21
Fecha de publicación2018-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaCanadian Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0008-4239 • E-ISSN: 1744-9324
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0008423917000981
OpenAlexW2756138641
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas10
Referencias citadas27

Applying the regime politics approach to the study of judicial behaviour, which regards the Supreme Court as largely operating to preserve the policy agenda of the existing lawmaking majority, this paper evaluates the Court's behaviour during the Conservative government's tenure. There is evidence to support the basic core of the regime politics thesis. The Court rarely invalidates laws passed by the sitting government. Nonetheless, the Court's behaviour during the Conservative government's tenure was distinctive. Incorporating a measure of issue salience—the relative importance of the policies affected—into the analysis demonstrates the Court's impact on the Conservatives' policy agenda stands in sharp contrast to previous governments. It is the only government of the Charter period to have policies in its election platforms blocked by judicial review and the only government in Canadian history to effectively lose all of the constitutional reference cases it posed to the Court

Charter · Divided government · Economics · Government (linguistics · Law and economics · Lawmaking · Legislature · Political science · Politics · Salience (neuroscience · Supreme court · Criminal Law and Evidence · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Legal Education and Practice Innovations · Public Administration