POLI 222 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Constitution Act, 1982, Judicial Activism
19 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Strong form judicial review (rights) and the contermajoritarian difficulty (object to giving courts power) If people don"t like the laws of the government they can boot them out the next election or the house can boot them (can"t happen with the court) When judges make decisions at the highest court of appeal, under strong form judicial review judges have the last word. When they say something is unconstitutional (on a statute or something), then that statute fails and is rendered invalid. If you want to revive the legislation, then you have to formally amend the constitution and then revive it. Legislator can respond to revive the statute in weak form without changing the constitution. Can invoke the notwithstanding clause: it has to pass a motion saying that the statute is still valid not withstanding the court"s decision. Legal theory: judge"s decisions are constrained by precedent and the standards of legal reasoning.
