Dennis Baker

About

Dennis Baker is Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Criminal Justice & Public Policy Program at the University of Guelph. Professor Baker holds an LL.B. from the University of Toronto and a PhD 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 impact of federalism on criminal justice policy, the institutional politics behind the rules of evidence in sexual assault cases, (with Troy Riddell) and the implementation of judicial decisions by police.

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.

Select Publications

• Baker, Dennis, “The Provincial Power to (Not) Prosecute Criminal Code Offences,” 48(2) Ottawa Law Review (2017) 419.
• Baker, Dennis. “Checking the Court: Justifying Parliament’s Role in Constitutional Interpretation,” (2016) 73 Supreme Court Law Review (2d) 1.
• Baker, Dennis. “The Temptation of Provincial Criminal Law,” 57(2) Canadian Public Administration (June 2014), 275-294.
• Baker, Dennis & Rainer Knopff, “Daviault Dialogue: The Strange Journey of Canada’s Intoxication Defence,” 19(1)Review of Constitutional Studies (2014) 35.
• Baker, Dennis. Not Quite Supreme:The Courts and Constitutional Interpretation (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2010)