What’s more, there are lawyers in New Zealand who still think creating a domestic Supreme Court was a mistake. Attorneys who came out on the wrong end of early Supreme Court decisions in NZ pined publicly for the predictability and respectability of the JCPC. The Constitutional Advisory Panel mulled over giving New Zealand’s Supreme Court the right to strike down statutes that are incompatible with the Bill of Rights. On the other hand, some New Zealanders have probably noticed that our notwithstanding clause does not get much of a workout. Canada’s experience with the notwithstanding clause suggests that parliaments are pretty comfortable giving away sovereignty when there is an accompanying opportunity to redistribute political blame.

Source: National Post February 27, 2018 12:00 UTC