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Canada PM appoints new high court judge without parliamentary hearings

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Monday appointed a new judge to the Canadian Supreme Court to fill an eight-month vacancy, bypassing public parliamentary hearings established in 2006 and blaming the move on opposition obstruction. Public hearings for the vacancy now being filled by Justice Thomas Cromwell, previously of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal , were delayed when creation of the all-party parliamentary committee was stalled by the election campaign and again when Harper suspended parliament until the new year to avoid a no-confidence vote. Last month, the first meeting of the Selection Panel considered no substantive business because of Opposition objection to the panel's composition. Cromwell will be sworn in on January 5. Harper added parliamentary public hearings to the high court vetting process in 2006 for his first Supreme Court appointment, that of Manitoba lawyer Marshall Rothstein. Harper officially nominated Cromwell to his post in September after the deliberations of the panel to vet the candidates were cut short.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on December 23, 2008 (boomark / email).