margin-right:0in">So why doesn’t the Knesset do that? It turns out that the categories of soft and hard judicial review are not as clear-cut as one might think. Even formally soft review can be pretty hard in practice and vice-versa.

The notwithstanding clause, or Section 33 of the charter, gives parliaments in Canada the power to override certain portions of the charter for five-year terms when passing legislation. In Canada, the Notwithstanding Clause has never been invoked by the national parliament or most of the provincial parliaments. In the early years after the adoption of the Charter, Quebec routinely invoked the Notwith-standing Clause, but since then it has become virtually unusable as a practical matter. In a Canadian culture that values human rights, it is al...

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