Judicial Activism

"The rule of law requires judges to uphold unwritten constitutional norms, even in the face of clearly enacted laws or hostile public opinion," said a prepared text of the lecture [Canadian] Chief Justice McLachlin gave to law students at Victoria University of Wellington late last week.

"There is certainly no guarantee or presumption that a given list of constitutional principles is complete, even assuming the good faith intention of the drafters to provide such a catalogue."

Chief Justice McLachlin set out a blueprint for when judges must rely on unwritten principles, which she defined as "norms that are essential to a nation's history, identity, values, and legal system."

What is there to say, what is there to do, other than throw up one's hands in despair? Canadians and their representatives have no role in reviewing judicial appointments - they are hand picked by the Prime Minister and there's not a thing we can do about it. Maybe you thought judges should interpret the laws passed in the legislature. Fool. Judges are the great overseers of all that is good. They get to make and break laws as they see fit. Our chief justice says so.