Does the supreme court of Canada have too much power?

DIVERGENT VIEWS

Answer

Yes. A Supreme Court Justice is placed in office for life and no one can hold them accountable for the decisions they make. We have term limitations in the Executive Branch. Legislative branch members must be re-elected but the Supreme Court Judges are there for life.

Answer

Whether the Supreme Court is too powerful is always been a hot topic. However, take into consideration that the Court's job is to first and foremost interpret the constitution. If, as the person above suggests, we elect Justices, the interpretation of the constitution would become too political. The founders wanted to safeguard the Constitution and put in Justices for life terms.

Furthermore, the Supreme Court really only has power to the extent that the other 2 branches of government abide by its rulings. After all, the Supreme Court doesn't have an army or police force with which it can enforce its rulings. Of course, if Congress or the executive branch decided to flout a Supreme Court ruling, they would basically be saying that the constitution has become irrelevant, and then we'd have far bigger problems than an academic debate over the extent of the Supreme Court's power.

Answer

No.

It does the job it is set up to do, and that job only. The only way you could possibly decrease the power it has is by creating a further court above it. But the same thing happens: a higher court will always have more power than the lower court, so you could only shift the power to a different place, never take it away.

Moreover, that would lower the impact of justice, since someone could always appeal the decision regardless of how many courts had agreed on the verdict.