Judicial Power and Institutional Constraints : A Comparison of Canadian and American Courts

Hurl argues that the impact of law and politics on judicial decision making is dependent upon the broader institutional environments that courts operate within. Through an examination environmental and Indian law decisions, he explores how judicial power in Canada and the United States is shaped by the constitutional structure of the two regimes. His work is based on an analysis of environmental and Indian law decisions decided by the Supreme Courts of Canada and the United States between 1985 and 2008, supplemented by an analysis of environmental policy cases decided by American and Canadian federal courts of appeal. The key conclusion is that constitutional differences--such as differences in executive-legislative relations in the Canada and the United States, and differences in constitutional language--explain the differing opportunities for the "judicialization" of environmental and Indian policy.