Praying for the Supreme Court

website.  You will be able to get a very detailed profile of each of our 9 Supreme Court Justices, plus learn about the cases that are currently before them.   Just a week ago, the Hon. Mr. Justice Michel Bastarache announced he would not being completing his full term, but would be resigning in June.  This will allow our Prime Minister a second opportunity to appoint a candidate to this highest court level.  (By the way the latest election rumour is that a confidence motion may come around June 16th over the Immigration issue.  This would affect Stephen Harper's ability to deal with this.)   At NHOP we did a lot of praying around the previous choice - Justice Marshall Rothstein.  We think he was a good choice.   But like our elected politicians, once they are in place we need to keep praying for them. Once a year an independent group gives their assessment of how our Supreme Court is doing.  A synopsis of that report by Patrick Monahan of the Osgoode Hall Law School is in today's Toronto Star.  "Monahan suggests the outcome in Charter cases last year also tells a story. In the 12 cases decided by the court in 2007 that involved the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, those claiming their Charter rights were breached were successful in just three cases. In five cases involving freedom of expression, it was a complete shutout for Charter claimants. In each of the five cases, claimants alleged that government or police had violated their right to freedom of expression. Every time, they lost."   This suggests to me that the Supreme Court is getting more conservative in their approach.  We have never really had an activist bench anyways, but this is still a good sign.  Let's keep praying!