Canadian PM Appoints New Supreme Court Judge, After First Pick Rejected

Quebec judge Clement Gascon was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada after Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s original choice, Federal Court of Appeal Justice Marc Nadon, was ruled unconstitutional. Gascon served on the Quebec Court of Appeals and a lower Quebec court. Though Nadon had been a member of the Quebec bar for two decades before becoming a federal judge, he was disqualified by the fact he was not a member of the bar when Harper appointed him. A Liberal Member of Parliament questioned what the rush was since the Supreme Court does not sit until this fall, but the process of picking and rejecting was basically non-partisan. The Committee that considers candidates is composed of members of both dominant parties and deliberates in secret. According to media reports, the original long list of names chosen by the government and shown to the committee contained those of four Federal Court judges. Justice Minister Peter MacKay expressed concern about “the leaking of information” from that committee to the press.