Leonid Sirota
@doubleaspect.blog
Legal academic; mostly Canadian and comparative public law. Associate Professor @unirdg-law.bsky.social; Senior Fellow, Macdonald Laurier Institute; blogger, doubleaspect.blog
Pinned
Leonid Sirota
@doubleaspect.blog
· Nov 7
Nothing Has Changed
Some thoughts on recent events
doubleaspect.blog
New post, on recent events: "Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear", even if that means choosing utopia over hope.
ICYMI: The Alberta CA strikes down the requirement that lawyers take an oath of allegiance; it's the right outcome, though reached for quite wrongheaded reasons, and no, it won't undermine the rule of law in Alberta. doubleaspect.blog/2025/12/18/t...
Truth about Allegiance
At last, a Canadian court declares an oath of allegiance unconstitutional — for all the wrong reasons
doubleaspect.blog
December 19, 2025 at 2:32 PM
ICYMI: The Alberta CA strikes down the requirement that lawyers take an oath of allegiance; it's the right outcome, though reached for quite wrongheaded reasons, and no, it won't undermine the rule of law in Alberta. doubleaspect.blog/2025/12/18/t...
New post: the Alberta Court of Appeal holds that requiring lawyers to swear allegiance to the Sovereign is unconstitutional. Or, why oaths are not like statutes, what allegiance means, and why proportionality balancing doesn't care about your feelings.
Truth about Allegiance
At last, a Canadian court declares an oath of allegiance unconstitutional — for all the wrong reasons
doubleaspect.blog
December 18, 2025 at 7:28 PM
New post: the Alberta Court of Appeal holds that requiring lawyers to swear allegiance to the Sovereign is unconstitutional. Or, why oaths are not like statutes, what allegiance means, and why proportionality balancing doesn't care about your feelings.
Question aux membres du Barreau du Québec: avez-vous eu à prêter un serment (d'allégeance ou autre) avant d'être inscrit? Je ne vois rien dans la Loi sur le Barreau, mais peut-être que ça m'a échappé. Merci!
December 18, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Question aux membres du Barreau du Québec: avez-vous eu à prêter un serment (d'allégeance ou autre) avant d'être inscrit? Je ne vois rien dans la Loi sur le Barreau, mais peut-être que ça m'a échappé. Merci!
Reposted by Leonid Sirota
I am on this week's The Curious Task podcast (by the Institute for Liberal Studies), talking about the Canadian Charter's notwithstanding clause. thecurioustask.podbean.com/e/whats-wron...
What's Wrong With The Notwithstanding Clause? - Leonid Sirota | The Curious Task
In this episode, Alex speaks with constitutional scholar Leonid Sirota about the notwithstanding clause—what it does, how it functions within Canada’s constitutional architecture, and why its routine ...
thecurioustask.podbean.com
December 5, 2025 at 3:03 PM
I am on this week's The Curious Task podcast (by the Institute for Liberal Studies), talking about the Canadian Charter's notwithstanding clause. thecurioustask.podbean.com/e/whats-wron...
Reposted by Leonid Sirota
My newest piece, forthcoming in the Constitutional Forum, is a comment on the Fair Voting BC decision of the Court of Appeal for Ontario, which upholdds the constitutionality of first-past-the-post elections. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
December 5, 2025 at 3:10 PM
My newest piece, forthcoming in the Constitutional Forum, is a comment on the Fair Voting BC decision of the Court of Appeal for Ontario, which upholdds the constitutionality of first-past-the-post elections. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
My newest piece, forthcoming in the Constitutional Forum, is a comment on the Fair Voting BC decision of the Court of Appeal for Ontario, which upholdds the constitutionality of first-past-the-post elections. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
December 5, 2025 at 3:10 PM
My newest piece, forthcoming in the Constitutional Forum, is a comment on the Fair Voting BC decision of the Court of Appeal for Ontario, which upholdds the constitutionality of first-past-the-post elections. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
I am on this week's The Curious Task podcast (by the Institute for Liberal Studies), talking about the Canadian Charter's notwithstanding clause. thecurioustask.podbean.com/e/whats-wron...
What's Wrong With The Notwithstanding Clause? - Leonid Sirota | The Curious Task
In this episode, Alex speaks with constitutional scholar Leonid Sirota about the notwithstanding clause—what it does, how it functions within Canada’s constitutional architecture, and why its routine ...
thecurioustask.podbean.com
December 5, 2025 at 3:03 PM
I am on this week's The Curious Task podcast (by the Institute for Liberal Studies), talking about the Canadian Charter's notwithstanding clause. thecurioustask.podbean.com/e/whats-wron...
Reposted by Leonid Sirota
Email from a well-liked editor at a major academic press, in response to a request for an update on a proposal and sample chapter I submitted (with the editors encouragement) three months ago. If anyone wants to suggest careers outside academia, I'd love to hear from you.
December 4, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Email from a well-liked editor at a major academic press, in response to a request for an update on a proposal and sample chapter I submitted (with the editors encouragement) three months ago. If anyone wants to suggest careers outside academia, I'd love to hear from you.
Email from a well-liked editor at a major academic press, in response to a request for an update on a proposal and sample chapter I submitted (with the editors encouragement) three months ago. If anyone wants to suggest careers outside academia, I'd love to hear from you.
December 4, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Email from a well-liked editor at a major academic press, in response to a request for an update on a proposal and sample chapter I submitted (with the editors encouragement) three months ago. If anyone wants to suggest careers outside academia, I'd love to hear from you.
ICYMI: For all that's wrong with the Quebec Constitution, it won't undermine abortion rights. doubleaspect.blog/2025/12/02/v...
Voldemortion
No, the Quebec Constitution won’t undermine abortion rights — for all the bad that it will in fact do
doubleaspect.blog
December 3, 2025 at 3:57 PM
ICYMI: For all that's wrong with the Quebec Constitution, it won't undermine abortion rights. doubleaspect.blog/2025/12/02/v...
New blog post: the Quebec Constitution bill is bad in all sorts of ways, not least in how it undermines rights, but the argument that it endangers abortion access does not hold up.
Voldemortion
No, the Quebec Constitution won’t undermine abortion rights — for all the bad that it will in fact do
doubleaspect.blog
December 2, 2025 at 8:36 PM
New blog post: the Quebec Constitution bill is bad in all sorts of ways, not least in how it undermines rights, but the argument that it endangers abortion access does not hold up.
Nouveau billet: en réaction au projet de loi 9, qui interdira, entre autres, les signes religieux dans les écoles privées subventionnées comme celle où j'ai étudié, je partage mon souvenir d'un professeur jésuite. doubleaspect.blog/2025/11/27/l...
La leçon du Père Bourgeois
À propos des symboles religieux dans les écoles privées subventionnées
doubleaspect.blog
November 27, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Nouveau billet: en réaction au projet de loi 9, qui interdira, entre autres, les signes religieux dans les écoles privées subventionnées comme celle où j'ai étudié, je partage mon souvenir d'un professeur jésuite. doubleaspect.blog/2025/11/27/l...
Nouveau billet, dans lequel je partage le mémoire que j'ai présenté à la Commission des institutions de l'Assemblée nationale pour son étude du projet de loi 1 doubleaspect.blog/2025/11/27/m...
Mémoire
Mon mémoire au sujet de la « Constitution du Québec »
doubleaspect.blog
November 27, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Nouveau billet, dans lequel je partage le mémoire que j'ai présenté à la Commission des institutions de l'Assemblée nationale pour son étude du projet de loi 1 doubleaspect.blog/2025/11/27/m...
J'ai récemment été invité, avec Guilleaume Rousseau, à parler du projet de loi 1, qui inclut notamment une constitution (un peu) codifiée et (pas vraiment) enchâssée pour le Québec, dans le cadre d'un épisode du balado des étudiants en droit de Sherbrooke, Affaire classée. Bonne écoute!
Ep. 3 S.1 - La constitution Québécoise, est-ce une bonne idée?
open.spotify.com
November 19, 2025 at 9:00 PM
J'ai récemment été invité, avec Guilleaume Rousseau, à parler du projet de loi 1, qui inclut notamment une constitution (un peu) codifiée et (pas vraiment) enchâssée pour le Québec, dans le cadre d'un épisode du balado des étudiants en droit de Sherbrooke, Affaire classée. Bonne écoute!
ICYMI: Some further mythbusting in relation to the notwithstanding clause. Does opposing it means opposing democracy? Are the judges whose decisions it's used to override just Liberals? The answers may surprise you! doubleaspect.blog/2025/11/10/n...
Notwithstanding Myths
The case for the notwithstanding clause rests on misunderstanding or misdirection.
doubleaspect.blog
November 10, 2025 at 10:07 PM
ICYMI: Some further mythbusting in relation to the notwithstanding clause. Does opposing it means opposing democracy? Are the judges whose decisions it's used to override just Liberals? The answers may surprise you! doubleaspect.blog/2025/11/10/n...
My new favourite bit of notwithstanding clause trivia:
November 10, 2025 at 2:22 PM
My new favourite bit of notwithstanding clause trivia:
New post: further notwithstanding clause mythbusting, to follow-up on my op-ed in the National Post last week.
Notwithstanding Myths
The case for the notwithstanding clause rests on misunderstanding or misdirection.
doubleaspect.blog
November 10, 2025 at 2:17 PM
New post: further notwithstanding clause mythbusting, to follow-up on my op-ed in the National Post last week.
George Brown on Canadian union and American insanity. (The American government was, in fact, insane; not for the last time.)
November 7, 2025 at 2:54 PM
George Brown on Canadian union and American insanity. (The American government was, in fact, insane; not for the last time.)
More George Brown on immigration and ambition for one's country.
November 7, 2025 at 2:37 PM
More George Brown on immigration and ambition for one's country.
George Brown on Comeau. Oopsie!
November 7, 2025 at 1:55 PM
George Brown on Comeau. Oopsie!
George Brown on how to think about taxation and trade.
November 7, 2025 at 1:38 PM
George Brown on how to think about taxation and trade.
George Brown on the people whose opinion you want to get on the right side of when you have ambitions and aspirations for your country's future.
November 7, 2025 at 1:25 PM
George Brown on the people whose opinion you want to get on the right side of when you have ambitions and aspirations for your country's future.
ICYMI: My piece in the National Post addressing some of the myths being spread about the "notwithstanding clause" to justify its widespread use. nationalpost.com/opinion/leon...
Leonid Sirota: Yes, the notwithstanding clause overrides rights. No, it isn't defensible
When Sec. 33 becomes habit, the people will lose
nationalpost.com
November 5, 2025 at 11:10 PM
ICYMI: My piece in the National Post addressing some of the myths being spread about the "notwithstanding clause" to justify its widespread use. nationalpost.com/opinion/leon...
Been called "some clown in England" at the other place, by some sad creature who goes by @TheKaiserSpeaks, which means I'm required to share this. I didn't make the rules!
November 5, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Been called "some clown in England" at the other place, by some sad creature who goes by @TheKaiserSpeaks, which means I'm required to share this. I didn't make the rules!
My latest in the National Post, addressing a mythology that is coming to surround the "notwithstanding clause" and make it into something inoffensive and practically cuddly. It's nothing of the sort. nationalpost.com/opinion/leon...
Leonid Sirota: Yes, the notwithstanding clause overrides rights. No, it isn't defensible
When Sec. 33 becomes habit, the people will lose
nationalpost.com
November 5, 2025 at 12:19 PM
My latest in the National Post, addressing a mythology that is coming to surround the "notwithstanding clause" and make it into something inoffensive and practically cuddly. It's nothing of the sort. nationalpost.com/opinion/leon...