2018: The SCC Mid-Year Review – How's It Going So Far?

Given the popularity of our annual SCC Year in Review article, we thought we would provide a mid-year update to check in on what the Court has been doing so far this year and what we can expect for the balance of the year.

Of course the biggest news - which began at the end of last year and continued into the beginning of this year - was the retirement of former Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin and the swearing in of new Chief Justice Richard Wagner. As we all know, Chief Justice McLachlin was the longest serving Chief Justice in Canadian history, sitting on the Supreme Court of Canada for twenty-six years, seventeen of those as Chief Justice, and being the first (and, to date, only) woman to hold the office of Chief Justice of Canada. Even though she would be entitled to sit on a beach and do nothing for the rest of her life after a career that included private practice, academia, and then 37 years as a judge, Justice McLachlin has accepted an appointment as a