Has The Supreme Court Of Canada Decided To Hear More Cases?

We have previously noted (here and here) that, over the last several decades, the Supreme Court of Canada has heard and decided fewer cases than it once did. That long-term decline has become even more pronounced since the onset of the pandemic. Since 2020, the Court has never decided more than 60 cases in a year. In 2025, it decided just 45.

That figure overstates the size of the Court’s discretionary docket. Once appeals as of right are removed, the number of cases addressing issues of national importance is smaller still. For litigants, counsel, lower courts, and the development of Canadian law, this matters. A smaller discretionary docket means fewer opportunities for national guidance, fewer occasions for the Court to resolve conflicting appellate authority, and fewer moments in which legal doctrine is clarified across the country.