Marshall Rothstein

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Marshall E. Rothstein
Marshall Rothstein
Incumbent
Assumed office 
February 23, 2006
Nominated by Stephen Harper
Preceded by John C. Major
Born December 25, 1940 (1940-12-25) (age 67)
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Marshall E. Rothstein, QC, LL.B, B.Comm (born December 25, 1940) is a Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.

In his capacity as a judge in the Supreme Court, he is one of the deputies to the Governor General.

Contents

[edit] Life

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, he received a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1962 and a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1966 from the University of Manitoba. He was called to the Bar of Manitoba in 1966, and would in 1979 be made a Queen's Counsel. Rothstein also married Sheila Dorfman in 1966; he and Dorfman, a Montreal native and family doctor, have four children, Ronald Rothstein (J.D., Valparaiso) an attorney in Chicago [1], Douglas Rothstein (M.B.A., Boston College), a business executive in Cambridge, MA[2], Tracey Rosenberg (M.D., State University of New York at Stony Brook), a physician in New York City[3] and Robert (Bo) Rothstein, an attorney in Vancouver[4].

[edit] Career

Marshall Rothstein practiced law primarily in the fields of transportation and competition law and was a partner with the Winnipeg law firm of Aikins, MacAulay & Thorvaldson. From 1970 to 1992, he was a lecturer in transportation law at the University of Manitoba. In 1992, he was appointed to the Federal Court Trial Division, ex officio member of the Court of Appeal, and appointed to the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada. In 1999, he was appointed a Judge of the Federal Court of Canada, Appeal Division. [5]

He wrote 578 judgments for the Federal Court and 324 judgments for the Federal Court of Appeal.[6]

[edit] Supreme Court

[edit] Appointment

Rothstein was one of three "short list" candidates (the others being Peter MacKinnon and Constance Hunt) recommended by a committee convened by the outgoing Liberal government to be appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada, following John C. Major's retirement from the bench in early 2006.[7] Prime Minister Stephen Harper chose Rothstein for the Governor General to appoint to the top court.

Many Canadian conservatives had long been critical of the process of appointing judges to the Supreme Court of Canada, wherein the Prime Minister is the sole advisor of the Governor General in the matter, and though he or she consults legal experts, no input is given from other (especially opposition) politicians. Conservative Leader Stephen Harper had thus made a promise to "reform" the appointment process during previous elections.

Shortly after Prime Minister Harper put Rothstein's name forward, Harper acted on his promise to create an Ad Hoc Committee to Review a Nominee for the Supreme Court of Canada, a new creation intended to allow the nominee to face questioning by members of the Canadian Parliament, similar in spirit to the Senate judicial hearings that occur as part of the Supreme Court appointment process in the United States. The Panel was chaired by constitutional law professor Peter Hogg.

The new procedures replaced a reformed appointment process introduced by the previous Liberal government, but which had not yet been applied.

The panel was controversial. Many conservative critics argued it did not go nearly far enough, while many liberal critics argued it went too far. Harper made it clear that while the ad hoc committee would be able to question the nominee, it did not have the power to veto the nominee - unlike the American panels which had the power to do both. Furthermore, the MPs on the panel were asked to refrain from asking about Rothstein's personal opinions on moral issues or subjects of possible future rulings. One matter relating to Rothstein's judicial philosophy did emerge from the hearings, however. Though his name was drawn from a short list whose compilation had been led by the previous Liberal administration, Rothstein was generally considered to be the most conservative of the three nominees with respect to the role he believed judges play in the political system. The hearing lent support to that view: when asked about his judicial philosophy, Rothstein stated he did not support unabashed judicial activism, saying the courts must be "very careful" when making rulings that overturn law made by parliament.[citation needed]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Winston & Strawn LLP > Ronald Y. Rothstein
  2. ^ Team - Redstone Partners
  3. ^ Columbia University College of Dental Medicine
  4. ^ Farris
  5. ^ See Official SCC bio [1]
  6. ^ See Google video at 59:09
  7. ^ globeandmail.com: National
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