Geoffrey Sigalet
Biographic Data
| ID | 4373664 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Geoffrey Sigalet |
| GIVEN NAMES | Geoffrey |
| FAMILY NAME | Sigalet |
| SIGNATURE | SIGALET G |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of British Columbia |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7789-401X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 8 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 5 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 7 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2019 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Parliamentary Constraints on Constitutional Review in the Supreme Court of Canada
Since the adoption of the Charter, scholars have argued that Parliament defers to the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) on questions of constitutional law. This is surprising given Canada’s previous history of parliamentary supremacy, Parliament’s enforcement of Court decisions and cognate findings internationally that show how elected officials can constrain high courts. Accordingly, we develop a theory of how Parliament influences the constitutiona…
Hamilton's fear: Republican judicial review and the separation of complicit powers
Recent republican debates about judicial review have focused on whether courts deliver legitimate forms of political contestation about rights. These ‘political constitutionalists’ frame the separation of powers as a matter of ‘friction’. The rival approach emphasizes whether the expertise and capacity of courts can ‘efficiently’ get certain jobs done to secure different ends. These rival approaches inform debates about judicial review and bills …
Notwithstanding Centralism: The Resurgence of the Notwithstanding Clause and the Conservative Provincial Rights Movement – Addendum
Notwithstanding Centralism: The Resurgence of the Notwithstanding Clause and the Conservative Provincial Rights Movement
After 30 years of relative neglect, Canada’s notwithstanding clause has been invoked in six different provincial laws since 2018. We argue that this resurgence can be explained by the growing judicial invalidation of provincial statutes and federal-provincial partisan conflicts. Drawing from an original dataset of Charter cases decided by the Supreme Court of Canada (1982–2020), we show that provincial statutes have been invalidated at much highe…
The Frontiers of Nullification and Anticommandeering: Federalism and Extrajudicial Constitutional Interpretation
In federal systems, non-judicial actors can engage in constitutional reasoning. The actions taken may come in different legal forms. Some may be consistent with positive law, while others may not. Nullification and anticommandeering are prominent examples. We show that these concepts have functionally made new appearances in Canada. One significant example of this is Alberta’s enactment of the 2022 Sovereignty Act. We trace how the initial propos…
Between Populism and Juristocracy: The Republicanism of Rainer Knopff
Rainer Knopff's scholarship on Canadian constitutionalism has offered some of the most trenchant criticism of the exercise of judicial review under the Charter, yet his theory has largely been misunderstood (as has that of his frequent co-author F. L. Morton). This article exposes two prominent critiques of Knopff's constitutional writings as straw man arguments and provides a republican account of his constitutional theory. The first straw man a…
On Dialogue and Domination
Constitutional Dialogue: Rights, Democracy, Institutions
The Frontiers of Nullification and Anticommandeering: Federalism and Extrajudicial Constitutional Interpretation
In federal systems, non-judicial actors can engage in constitutional reasoning. The actions taken may come in different legal forms. Some may be consistent with positive law, while others may not. Nullification and anticommandeering are prominent examples. We show that these concepts have functionally made new appearances in Canada. One significant example of this is Alberta’s enactment of the 2022 Sovereignty Act. We trace how the initial propos…
Notwithstanding Centralism: The Resurgence of the Notwithstanding Clause and the Conservative Provincial Rights Movement
After 30 years of relative neglect, Canada’s notwithstanding clause has been invoked in six different provincial laws since 2018. We argue that this resurgence can be explained by the growing judicial invalidation of provincial statutes and federal-provincial partisan conflicts. Drawing from an original dataset of Charter cases decided by the Supreme Court of Canada (1982–2020), we show that provincial statutes have been invalidated at much highe…
Between Populism and Juristocracy: The Republicanism of Rainer Knopff
Rainer Knopff's scholarship on Canadian constitutionalism has offered some of the most trenchant criticism of the exercise of judicial review under the Charter, yet his theory has largely been misunderstood (as has that of his frequent co-author F. L. Morton). This article exposes two prominent critiques of Knopff's constitutional writings as straw man arguments and provides a republican account of his constitutional theory. The first straw man a…
On Dialogue and Domination
Constitutional Dialogue: Rights, Democracy, Institutions
Between Populism and Juristocracy: The Republicanism of Rainer Knopff
Rainer Knopff's scholarship on Canadian constitutionalism has offered some of the most trenchant criticism of the exercise of judicial review under the Charter, yet his theory has largely been misunderstood (as has that of his frequent co-author F. L. Morton). This article exposes two prominent critiques of Knopff's constitutional writings as straw man arguments and provides a republican account of his constitutional theory. The first straw man a…
The Frontiers of Nullification and Anticommandeering: Federalism and Extrajudicial Constitutional Interpretation
In federal systems, non-judicial actors can engage in constitutional reasoning. The actions taken may come in different legal forms. Some may be consistent with positive law, while others may not. Nullification and anticommandeering are prominent examples. We show that these concepts have functionally made new appearances in Canada. One significant example of this is Alberta’s enactment of the 2022 Sovereignty Act. We trace how the initial propos…
Hamilton's fear: Republican judicial review and the separation of complicit powers
Recent republican debates about judicial review have focused on whether courts deliver legitimate forms of political contestation about rights. These ‘political constitutionalists’ frame the separation of powers as a matter of ‘friction’. The rival approach emphasizes whether the expertise and capacity of courts can ‘efficiently’ get certain jobs done to secure different ends. These rival approaches inform debates about judicial review and bills …
Notwithstanding Centralism: The Resurgence of the Notwithstanding Clause and the Conservative Provincial Rights Movement – Addendum
Notwithstanding Centralism: The Resurgence of the Notwithstanding Clause and the Conservative Provincial Rights Movement
After 30 years of relative neglect, Canada’s notwithstanding clause has been invoked in six different provincial laws since 2018. We argue that this resurgence can be explained by the growing judicial invalidation of provincial statutes and federal-provincial partisan conflicts. Drawing from an original dataset of Charter cases decided by the Supreme Court of Canada (1982–2020), we show that provincial statutes have been invalidated at much highe…
Parliamentary Constraints on Constitutional Review in the Supreme Court of Canada
Since the adoption of the Charter, scholars have argued that Parliament defers to the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) on questions of constitutional law. This is surprising given Canada’s previous history of parliamentary supremacy, Parliament’s enforcement of Court decisions and cognate findings internationally that show how elected officials can constrain high courts. Accordingly, we develop a theory of how Parliament influences the constitutiona…
Political science (7 works) · Judicial and Constitutional Studies (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Politics (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Law (4 works) · American Constitutional Law and Politics (3 works) · Centralized government (2 works)