Supreme Court Confirms: Judicial Review Cannot Be Legislated Away

In Democracy Watch v. Canada (Attorney General), 2026 SCC 28, the Supreme Court unanimously held that Parliament cannot place any aspect of an administrative decision beyond judicial review, striking down a partial privative clause that purported to bar judicial review of questions of fact and law.

The decision establishes a new constitutional baseline for administrative law and will have far-reaching consequences. Partial privative clauses appear in many regulatory schemes. However, while legislatures may shape how courts review administrative decisions, they cannot prevent courts from reviewing whether executive power was exercised lawfully.

Background

In 2020, two members of Parliament asked the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner to investigate whether former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had contravened the Conflict of Interest Act byparticipating in two federal funding decisions involving the WE Charity, an organization with ties to his family. The Commissioner