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ARTICLE · 15 JULY 2024

Study: SCC Less Political Than The U.S. Supreme Court

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In June 2024, the Supreme Court of the United States released 27 new written decisions on a wide range of matters. During that same time, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) issued only four.

CanadaLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Richard Coombs
Richard Coombs
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In June 2024, the Supreme Court of the United States released 27 new written decisions on a wide range of matters. During that same time, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) issued only four.

An editorial by Canadian Affairs has compared the outputs of the two supreme courts, where it referenced a study co-authored by litigation partner Jeremy Opolsky. In this study, Jeremy and his co-author suggest this contrast could, in fact, be reassuring for Canadians.

One of the primary questions the Canadian Affairs piece explores is whether a concerning trend that is happening south of the border is taking hold in Canada: the court splitting along ideological lines.

In all the U.S. Supreme Court's recent judgements, the vote was split 6-3 between the court's conservative and liberal judges—a sign that judges' political preferences could be at play. However, the study co-authored by Jeremy suggests this is not the case in Canada.

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