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Twelve Angry (White) Men: The Constitutionality of the Statement of Principles

Resource type
Author/contributor
Title
Twelve Angry (White) Men: The Constitutionality of the Statement of Principles
Abstract
This paper analyzes the constitutionality of the Law Society of Ontario’s (now repealed) Statement of Principles requirement. First, this paper conducts a statutory analysis of the requirement. It explains how the requirement merely obligated that licensees acknowledge extant professional and human rights obligations, rather than creating novel obligations. Second, this paper conducts a theoretical analysis of the requirement. It applies a critical race theory lens to unveil the ways in which liberty claims relating to free speech obscured how significant resistance to the requirement’s modest obligation was galvanized by opposition to diversity and denial of systemic racism. Third, this paper conducts a constitutional analysis of the requirement. It explains why the requirement did not violate freedom of conscience or freedom of expression. In contrast with prior scholarship, this paper argues that the Statement of Principles requirement failed every stage of the legal test that designates state activity as compelled speech. Specifically, the requirement failed to compel an expression with non-trivial meaning (Step 1) and failed to control free expression in Canada, when such control is properly construed through a purposive rather than colloquial lens (Step 2). This paper concludes by noting how the requirement’s self-drafted structure provided an innovative opportunity for licensees to reflect on their perhaps unwitting participation in systemic racism.
Genre
SSRN Scholarly Paper
Archive ID
3560382
Place
Rochester, NY
Date
2020-03-24
Accessed
8/1/24, 10:00 PM
Short Title
Twelve Angry (White) Men
Language
en
Library Catalog
Social Science Research Network
Citation
Sealy-Harrington, J. (2020). Twelve Angry (White) Men: The Constitutionality of the Statement of Principles (SSRN Scholarly Paper No. 3560382). https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=3560382
Author / Editor