Prior to joining the University of Guelph in 2003, Professor Johnson has taught at Brock University in St. Catharine’s Ontario and at the American University in Washington, DC. Professor Johnson has published in the areas of health care and social policy, the philosophical and...
Dennis Baker
Email:
bakerd@uoguelph.ca
Field:
Canadian Government and Political Theory
Specialization:
Law & Politics; Constitutionalism
Professor Baker is a graduate of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Calgary. His research focuses on the separation of powers, particularly the relationship between the courts and the representative branches. His book, Not Quite Supreme, considers the limits of the Supreme Court of Canada’s power to settle political controversies and offers a spirited defense of a Parliament’s role in constitutional interpretation. Professor Baker has written on a number of constitutional controversies including the use of retroactive remedies in same-sex equality cases and has co-authored articles on the institutional politics behind the rules of evidence in sexual assault cases and the strategic maneuvering behind the Supreme Court rulings on prisoners’ voting rights.
Current Project:
Professor Baker is currently investigating the nature of executive power in Canadian constitutionalism. He is also conducting a study on the impact of federalism on Canadian criminal justice policy. Professor Baker is interested in a wide variety of issues related to law & politics, including Anglo-American constitutional theory, Canadian legal history, federalism and deliberative democracy.
Teaching Interests:
Professor Baker teaches in the areas of constitutional law, Canadian politics and criminal justice.
Recent Publications:
Not Quite Supreme: The Courts and Coordinate Constitutional Interpretaton (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2010).
“‘The Real Protection of the People’: The Royal Recommendation and Responsible Government” 3 Journal of Parliamentary and Political Law (2010).
“The Court’s Mulligan: A Comment on Canada (Attorney General) v. Hislop” 14:2 Review of Constitutional Studies (Fall 2009).
“Courting Controversy: Strategic Decision-making” in Christopher P. Manfredi & James B. Kelly, Contested Constitutionalism: Reflections on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (UBC Press, 2009), 86-110 (with Rainer Knopff and Sylvia LeRoy).
“Charter Checks and Parliamentary Balances,” 16(2) Constitutional Forum (2007) 15-22 (with Rainer Knopff).