PM taps Ontario judges Karakatsanis, Moldaver for Supreme Court
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has moved to fill two Supreme Court of Canada vacancies by nominating Mr. Justice Michael Moldaver, an outspoken Ontario appellate judge with vast experience in criminal law, and a former senior civil servant – Madam Justice Andromake Karakatsanis.
A judge who typically does not believe in striking down legislation, Judge Moldaver has publicly decried a proliferation of litigation under the Charter of Rights. Both factors make him an ideal nominee for a government with an ambitious law and order agenda.
While neither appointee comes as a surprise, both are likely to come under criticism for certain perceived vulnerabilities.
Having spent her career as a top civil servant, Judge Karakatsanis has vast administrative experience but little in the realities of a law practice. Her career on the bench has been short and she has produced little in the way of significant or memorable jurisprudence. Her nomination is also likely to come under fire because of her close connections to powerful Conservatives – most notably, Finance Minister James Flaherty, with whom she worked closely when he was Ontario’s attorney-general.
Judge Moldaver’s inability to speak French is sure to provoke a degree of controversy, as will a public stance he has taken against courtroom strategies he perceives as wasting court resources and bringing the Charter of Rights into disrepute.
The defence bar accuses Judge Moldaver of harbouring overinflated fears about violent crime and inaccurately portraying police as handcuffed by evidentiary rules.
His mission to fight courtroom inefficiencies commenced about five years ago, when Judge Moldaver lashed out at long Charter motions and accused some defence counsel of “pilfering precious legal aid funds,” and of hijacking trials that end up in long-running constitutional battles over evidence.
Coming at a time when defence counsel felt they have been scapegoated for the legal-aid system’s continuing woes, the defence bar denounced Judge Moldaver’s criticisms as an unmeasured rant that was replete with inaccuracies and false stereotypes.
On the Court of Appeal, he frequently sits on high profile or complex cases. Earlier this year, for example, he opted to deny doctors their wish to unilaterally pull the plug on a patient they deem beyond medical help.
Judge Moldaver’s tough-on-crime reputation is partly founded in his approach to punishment. Last year, for example, he was drastically increasing the sentences of the a group of terrorists convicted under new anti-terrorism legislation.
More recently, he ratcheted up the sentence of a man convicted of luring a 12-year-old girl over the Internet, a welcome decision to the Harper government that created the law.
“The offence of luring carries very real dangers – innocent children being seduced and sexually assaulted or even worse, kidnapped, sexually abused and possibly killed,” Judge Moldaver said in the case, R v Woodward.
At the same time, however, Judge Moldaver sometimes opts for leniency in cases where individuals with no history of criminality make uncharacteristic errors of judgment.
In an important case last spring, for example, he took the position that mothers who kill their infants while in the grips of a mental disturbance deserve leniency instead of automatic life sentences for murder the Crown had sought.
Judge Binnie had been appointed directly from a thriving practice at a Bay Street law firm. The fact that the court will now have no lawyers coming direct from practice will be a cause of dismay to those who believe the Court tends to be out of touch with the realities of practice.
Judge Charron was one of the court’s only criminal law experts, while Judge Binnie acquired considerable expertise in the area. The fact that only one of their replacements is steeped in criminal law constitutes a modest setback for the court.
In legal circles, there will be considerable shock that a front-runner for the job – Ontario Court of Appeal Judge Robert Sharpe – was not one of the nominees. A perception that he too often takes a tough line against the federal crown attorneys may have been his undoing.
PM taps Ontario judges Karakatsanis, Moldaver for Supreme Court
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has moved to fill two Supreme Court of Canada vacancies by nominating Mr. Justice Michael Moldaver, an outspoken Ontario appellate judge with vast experience in criminal law, and a former senior civil servant – Madam Justice Andromake Karakatsanis.
A judge who typically does not believe in striking down legislation, Judge Moldaver has publicly decried a proliferation of litigation under the Charter of Rights. Both factors make him an ideal nominee for a government with an ambitious law and order agenda.
While neither appointee comes as a surprise, both are likely to come under criticism for certain perceived vulnerabilities.
Having spent her career as a top civil servant, Judge Karakatsanis has vast administrative experience but little in the realities of a law practice. Her career on the bench has been short and she has produced little in the way of significant or memorable jurisprudence. Her nomination is also likely to come under fire because of her close connections to powerful Conservatives – most notably, Finance Minister James Flaherty, with whom she worked closely when he was Ontario’s attorney-general.
Judge Moldaver’s inability to speak French is sure to provoke a degree of controversy, as will a public stance he has taken against courtroom strategies he perceives as wasting court resources and bringing the Charter of Rights into disrepute.
The defence bar accuses Judge Moldaver of harbouring overinflated fears about violent crime and inaccurately portraying police as handcuffed by evidentiary rules.
His mission to fight courtroom inefficiencies commenced about five years ago, when Judge Moldaver lashed out at long Charter motions and accused some defence counsel of “pilfering precious legal aid funds,” and of hijacking trials that end up in long-running constitutional battles over evidence.
Coming at a time when defence counsel felt they have been scapegoated for the legal-aid system’s continuing woes, the defence bar denounced Judge Moldaver’s criticisms as an unmeasured rant that was replete with inaccuracies and false stereotypes.
On the Court of Appeal, he frequently sits on high profile or complex cases. Earlier this year, for example, he opted to deny doctors their wish to unilaterally pull the plug on a patient they deem beyond medical help.
Judge Moldaver’s tough-on-crime reputation is partly founded in his approach to punishment. Last year, for example, he was drastically increasing the sentences of the a group of terrorists convicted under new anti-terrorism legislation.
More recently, he ratcheted up the sentence of a man convicted of luring a 12-year-old girl over the Internet, a welcome decision to the Harper government that created the law.
“The offence of luring carries very real dangers – innocent children being seduced and sexually assaulted or even worse, kidnapped, sexually abused and possibly killed,” Judge Moldaver said in the case, R v Woodward.
At the same time, however, Judge Moldaver sometimes opts for leniency in cases where individuals with no history of criminality make uncharacteristic errors of judgment.
In an important case last spring, for example, he took the position that mothers who kill their infants while in the grips of a mental disturbance deserve leniency instead of automatic life sentences for murder the Crown had sought.
Judge Binnie had been appointed directly from a thriving practice at a Bay Street law firm. The fact that the court will now have no lawyers coming direct from practice will be a cause of dismay to those who believe the Court tends to be out of touch with the realities of practice.
Judge Charron was one of the court’s only criminal law experts, while Judge Binnie acquired considerable expertise in the area. The fact that only one of their replacements is steeped in criminal law constitutes a modest setback for the court.
In legal circles, there will be considerable shock that a front-runner for the job – Ontario Court of Appeal Judge Robert Sharpe – was not one of the nominees. A perception that he too often takes a tough line against the federal crown attorneys may have been his undoing.
PM taps Ontario judges Karakatsanis, Moldaver for Supreme Court
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