As the month of May is quickly coming to an end, theCourt.ca is taking a moment to reflect on the national and international events that have made headlines – from the assassination of Osama bin Laden to the federal elections in Canada (see last week’s post). The former event, particularly bin Laden’s death photos, prompts [...]

Over the summer, TheCourt.ca commented on Omar Khadr’s journey through Canada’s courts—from the Federal Court to the SCC and back again. His lawyers have attempted to assert his Constitutional (Charter) rights consistently and unrelentingly, despite constant setbacks. Nevertheless, the Canadian government has successfully appealed multiple decisions so that Mr. Khadr has been unable to realize [...]

As most readers are likely aware, Omar Khadr has been held at the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay as an enemy combatant since 2002. His trial before a US military commission is scheduled for August 10 of this year. He is charged with five offences: murder in the violation of the law of war, attempted [...]

(The Court returns after a week transitioning from our 2009-2010 academic-year editorial team to our summer editors. We thank our readers for their patience during this break. From May 3 through to the end of August, we move to our summer publication schedule of three postings per week [usually Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays] with occasional [...]

On January 27, 2010, the UK Supreme Court struck down two UK Orders in Council that formed the entirety of the country’s terror financing and asset-freezing law (Her Majesty’s Treasury v. Mohammed Jabar Ahmed and others; Mohammed al-Ghabra; Hani El Sayed Sabaei Youssef ([2010] UKSC 2 & [2010] UKSC 5). The Court held the laws [...]

If the name Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab doesn’t ring a bell, you might know him better as the “Christmas Day bomber”. On December 25, Abdulmutallab managed to avoid the “rigorous” airline security in Amsterdam and boarded Flight 253 heading to Detroit with explosives strapped to his underwear. As Flight 253 began its descent towards Detroit, Abdulmutallab [...]

(I) The Sanctity of Informer Privilege “Informer Privilege” or “Informant Privilege”—the protection of the identity of a confidential informant—is one of the most prohibitive and absolute privileges in the Canadian legal system. The Supreme Court of Canada reiterated its importance last week by unanimously overturning both lower court decisions in R. v. Basi, 2009 SCC [...]

The United States Supreme Court’s recent decision in Boumediene et al v. Bush et al 549 U. S. __ (2007) has been controversial in ways most decisions rarely manage. Republican Presidential candidate John McCain attacked the decision, calling it “one of the worst decisions in history.” (McCain did not elaborate as to whether Boumediene is [...]

The Supreme Court’s decision in Canada v. Khadr, 2008 SCC 28, last week can best be described as “arms-length jurisprudence.” (A more detailed analysis of the decision from TheCourt.ca can be found here.) Although the Court found for Mr. Khadr, they did so in a manner that can only be described as tentative or even [...]