Supreme Courts ...How others go about it.

[Northern_Piper]

Ah - here’s an article about Binnie and the Kiwis: Canadian Supreme Court Justice Ian Binnie: Police pressure blocked Bain compo:

The Government didn’t want to pay David Bain compensation partly because of pressure from Police, former Canadian Supreme Court Justice Ian Binnie says.

Binnie has been critical of the Government’s handling of the case since his 2012 recommendation that Bain had met the threshold for compensation was rejected by then Justice Minister Judith Collins.

In an interview with TVNZ’s Sunday programme, Binnie said after meeting with Collins about his report he left New Zealand feeling as though he had been “mugged”.

“I didn’t feel crushed. But I felt if she could have, she would have.”

Binnie said he now viewed the whole process as a “stitch-up”.

“I was entirely clear that she was not going to accept the report…the only question was how she would figure out a way of getting rid of it,” Binnie told Sunday.

And also:

Binnie hits back at Bain report critics

Binnie comes out swinging in dust-up over New Zealand report

[Northern_Piper]

“Binnie and the Kiwis” - band name!

[Musicat]

@senoy

The problem is that it circumvents the will of the people.

Ever heard of the tyranny of the majority? That’s what SCOTUS was designed to prevent. If the will of the people contradicts the Constitution, someone has to step in.

[Northern_Piper]

Exactly. That’s what that whole “We the People” thing is about. If the Constitutiom is the supreme law of the land, other laws have to conform with it.

[wolfpup]

@Musicat

Ever heard of the tyranny of the majority? That’s what SCOTUS was designed to prevent. If the will of the people contradicts the Constitution, someone has to step in.

And this is what has me so worried about the combination of the extreme polarization of the US Supreme Court combined with the fact that it’s about to take a hard-right turn and possibly stay that way for generations. I’m worried and I don’t even live in the US! The US effect on Canada is tangible; criminal gun violence in big cities, while still low, is getting worse due to the steady flow of cross-border guns from the gun capital of the universe right next door, a trade war is escalating, NAFTA is in trouble, and universal health care is in constant jeopardy from US insurers and profiteering private clinics, the latter often plying their trade on the shadowy fringes of legality or beyond. Trump openly ruminates about being a dictator just like the pals he hangs out with, Kim and Putin; he’s becoming more popular with a broader conservative mainstream, not just the hardcore white supremacists who have always loved him. A majority of Republicans support postponing the 2020 elections. The idea of the US going full-Nazi isn’t funny any more, nor so terribly hyperbolic.

[Northern_Piper]

• Rothstein - I saw his retirement speech (streamed by the SCC) and he said he was looking for work, as he hated bridge and golf; don’t know if he’s found any;

I got curious and googled - he’s with a big law firm in Vancouver. Now that I think about it, I think I saw the speech live - happened to be in Ottawa that day, so dropped into the Court to see it.

[Elendil_s_Heir]

Bad craziness for the Supreme Court of Poland these days: Polish Supreme Court Head Defies Ruling Party As Crisis Deepens : NPR

[Northern_Piper]

Yes, with the implicit encouragement of the Orange One when he made a visit there a year ago.

The Racial and Religious Paranoia of Trump's Warsaw Speech