Former Canadian Supreme Court Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella on the U.S. Supreme Court: 'I have never seen the role of a Supreme Court to take rights away'

Rosalie Silberman Abella : There is a huge difference between courts that restrict rights and courts that expand them.

Abella shared her view of the role of constitutional courts in a democracy and why the U.S. Supreme Court’s annual flurry of opinions that are doomed to be lost to the news cycle is anything but inevitable.

An independent media is the mirror, Abella says, telling us what we look like.

The U.S. Supreme Court is conducting itself like the girl that pops out of the cake at the birthday party back in the 1950s .

The court should be finding out What does a constitution mean in this particular case? If the court is bringing its own version of what the truth is and not listening, then it’s not doing its job of actually checking the legislature.

Canada 's Supreme Court's jurisprudence is cited more than anyone else’s than any other Western democracy.

The court invites the press the day before , to get a briefing from the executive legal officer who will explain the background of the case.

Ours come out when they come out, but it's their tradition and, as I say, they're not open to change.