Harper Sidestepped MPs On Supreme Court Pick Due To Nadon 'Leaks'

Concerns over alleged leaks from the all-party panel of MPs that vetted the aborted appointment of Marc Nadon to the Supreme Court led the government to leave MPs out of the loop when it named Justice Clement Gascon to replace him, documents tabled in the House reveal.

In response to a written question filed by Liberal MP Irwin Cotler last June, Justice Minister Peter MacKay confirmed that "it was … felt that certain breaches of confidentiality related to the Nadon appointment had compromised the integrity of the current selection process, and that it needed to be reviewed."

The secret short list that provoked the rift between Chief Justice and PMO

Early last summer, Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin sat down with five federal politicians at the stately court building on Wellington Street, just down the road from Parliament.

The Supreme Court selection panel – three Conservative MPs, a New Democrat MP and a Liberal MP – had come bearing a list of six candidates to replace Justice Morris Fish of Quebec, who was nearing 75 and about to retire.

John Gomery criticizes Harper for spat with chief justice

Retired Quebec Superior Court judge John Gomery is adding his voice to those criticizing Stephen Harper's treatment of the chief justice of the Supreme Court.

"I think it's appalling that the judiciary should be used for political purposes in this way and I'm puzzled as to the motivation of the prime minister and his office as to why they would take on the chief justice," Gomery said.

Harper's Team Knew Early There Could Be Trouble With Nadon Pick

OTTAWA - Canada's justice minister says he didn't personally recommend to Marc Nadon that he resign from the Federal Court of Appeal and rejoin the Quebec bar in order to be eligible to join the Supreme Court.

But Peter MacKay is not refuting a Global News report that says the Prime Minister's Office did just that, a recommendation Nadon reportedly refused.

Stephen Harper’s reckless smear of Canada’s top judge

Watching the Harper government stumble from one needless controversy to another — picking fights, settling scores, demeaning institutions and individuals alike in the pursuit of no discernible principle or even political gain — one has had the distinct impression of a government, and a prime minister, spinning out of control.

But with the prime minister’s astonishing personal attack last week on the chief justice of the Supreme Court, Beverley McLachlin, the meltdown has reached Lindsay Lohanesque proportions. Nothing in the long catalogue of Stephen Harper’s bad-tempered outbursts has seemed quite so extravagantly reckless, if only because it was so calculated.

MacKay repeats allegations against top court judge

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Justice Minister Peter MacKay breached confidentiality rules and tried to intimidate judges when they publicly criticized Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, opposition parties say.

“Does the Attorney-General consider that it is part of his job to ensure that there are never any attempts to intimidate the courts in our country?” New Democratic Party Leader Thomas Mulcair asked Mr. MacKay in the House on Monday.

Beverley McLachlin, PMO give duelling statements on Nadon appointment fight

The Prime Minister's Office late Thursday suggested that the chief justice of the Supreme Court tried inappropriately to intervene in the process to appoint Justice Marc Nadon, even though her advice came before Nadon's appointment was announced and ultimately would have saved the government an embarrassing defeat.

The appointment of Nadon, a respected Federal Court judge, to replace retired Justice Morris Fish, eventually led to an expensive reference to the Supreme Court about his eligibility, and a public humiliation for Nadon.

Duelling statements over Nadon appointment reveal PMO fight with top court

OTTAWA - The Prime Minister's Office exposed an unprecedented public spat with the chief justice of the Supreme Court on Thursday, issuing a statement suggesting Stephen Harper refused to accept a phone call from Beverley McLachlin about a judicial appointment.

The extraordinary statement came on the heels of a media report that said Conservative government members have become incensed with the top court after a series of stinging constitutional rebukes.

Tories incensed with Supreme Court as some allege Chief Justice lobbied against Marc Nadon appointment

Analysis

Frustrations inside the Harper government at the recent string of losses at the Supreme Court are in danger of boiling over.

One minister said he had been advised not to get into a public “firefight,” but senior Conservatives are privately incensed and feel the court has blocked Parliament’s ability to make laws.

Rumours about Beverley McLachlin, the Chief Justice, are being shared with journalists, alleging she lobbied against the appointment of Marc Nadon to the court (an appointment later overturned as unconstitutional). It is also being suggested she has told people the Harper government has caused more damage to the court as an institution than any government in Canadian history.

Questions linger about secret panel for Marc Nadon's appointment

It's been three weeks since the Supreme Court told the government its nominee, Justice Marc Nadon, is not eligible to sit as a member of the court.

Not only is little known about how he was chosen, there's also no new candidate in sight.

Nadon's name was on a list of three potential candidates. That list of three, which had been drawn up by a selection committee made up of MPs, was then sent to the government. That means two other candidates are presumably available to fill the empty Quebec seat on the top court. But it's not known who they are, or whether a new batch of candidates will be drawn up.

Cost of Marc Nadon appointment process? $250K

The federal government spent nearly $250,000 to review the aborted nomination of Marc Nadon to fill a Quebec vacancy on the Supreme Court of Canada — an appointment the court struck down last week.

Documents tabled in the Commons set out the costs of choosing and nominating Nadon.

The total includes $80,894 for legal services and another $152,294 for translation and other professional services.

Harper: government respects Nadon decision

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - The Conservative government intends to respect the Supreme Court's decision to deny Marc Nadon the chance to occupy the vacant Quebec seat on the high court bench, says Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

But the government is still reviewing the decision about Nadon's eligibility, which Harper admitted Tuesday left him "very surprised."

"What I can tell you is this: we're obviously going to respect the decision," Harper told a news conference following the conclusion of the two-day Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague.

MacKay rewording Supreme Court Act while seeking court's advice on legality of Nadon's appointment

Faced with an unprecedented challenge to the legitimacy of the latest appointment to Supreme Court, Justice Minister Peter MacKay is rewriting the law that governs such choices.

At the same time, Mr MacKay says he is also asking the country’s highest court to determine whether the appointment of Justice Marc Nadon is legal under the Supreme Court Act.

The Supreme Court’s remarkable rejection of Marc Nadon

Unprecedented doesn’t begin to describe it.

The Supreme Court has soundly rejected an appointment to its own bench in a 6-1 decision. Never before has it dealt with a legal challenge to an appointment of one of its own. And now it has—for the first time—officially elaborated on its own place in the Constitution, so that any changes to its “composition,” including who is eligible to sit on its bench, now require the consent of all provinces in the form of a constitutional amendment.

Harper’s Supreme Court nomination leads to rare legal mess at top bench

OTTAWA — Last April 22, Justice Morris Fish announced he was resigning from the Supreme Court of Canada at the end of the spring session.

More than six months later, his eight colleagues on the country’s highest court convene this Tuesday to hear an important constitutional reference on one of the Conservative government’s legacy policies: Senate reform.

Marc Nadon, Supreme Court Nominee, Already Has Office At Top Court, Despite Challenge

OTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada's newest nominee already has an office amongst his colleagues despite the fact that his appointment is being contested in court.

Two sources tell The Canadian Press that Marc Nadon has an office at the Supreme Court building in Ottawa, even as his new office neighbours are preparing to judge his case.

How Harper bungled the Supreme Court appointment: Analysis

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper has made a spectacular mess of filling the latest Quebec seat on the Supreme Court of Canada.

That’s the view of many in Quebec’s broader legal community. It’s the talk of the profession’s social, political and judicial circles, and not just Quebec but beyond.

On Thursday, the mess left the country’s top court one judge shy of a full bench with major cases on its agenda because the appointee has stepped aside. Nobody knows for how long. All because a court challenge has been brought against Harper’s decision to vault over Quebec’s bench and bar, and pick from the federal court bench — a challenge which could in theory go all the way up to the high court itself.

How Stephen Harper picks judges

Stephen Harper’s appointment of Marc Nadon to the Supreme Court of Canada is being faulted on two counts:

That the prime minister failed to name a woman, as widely expected and suggested, including seemingly by Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin. This leaves the top court with twice as many men as women — six to three.

That Harper has picked a conservative with ideological affinity to his brand of conservatism — not on social issues, such as abortion, but rather on governance, such as how much deference the courts should show the executive branch. In other words, Nadon may not be the type to challenge the prime minister on policies and interpretation of law. Nadon will likely give unto government what the government considers to be government’s and unto the courts what he thinks is the court’s — as he suggested before a parliamentary panel Wednesday.

Newest Supreme Court Justice Marc Nadon Backtracks On NHL Draft Claim

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper's newest pick for the Supreme Court Marc Nadon says he did not lie to a Parliamentary committee Wednesday when he stated he was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings at age 14.

On Thursday, Nadon confirmed he was never officially drafted to the National Hockey League.

MPs grill Supreme Court of Canada appointment Nadon at special committee

PARLIAMENT HILL—Opposition MPs put Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s latest appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada, Marc Nadon, on the defensive Wednesday with questions about past legal rulings, his gender since the number of female Supreme Court judges has declined under Mr. Harper’s appointments and thinly-veiled suggestions he may be inclined to favour the government.

In the strongest opposition questioning yet during unofficial House committee hearings over Supreme Court appointments that began in 2006, Conservative MP Shelley Glover (Saint Boniface, Man.) intervened at one point to object to a line of questioning from Liberal MP Irwin Cotler (Mount Royal, Que.), a former justice minister who took issue with a ruling the nominee, Federal Court of Appeal Justice Nadon, had made in a controversial case involving a Rwandan man accused of inciting genocide against Rwanda’s ethnic Tutsis in 1992.