A judge on Canada’s highest court has resigned after facing an investigation over his behavior at a US resort.
(Bloomberg) — A judge on Canada’s highest court has resigned after facing an investigation over his behavior at a US resort.
Supreme Court Justice Russell Brown’s resignation was announced Monday by the Canadian Judicial Council, which was preparing a formal review into the matter. The resignation means the review will no longer happen and it gives Prime Minister Justin Trudeau an opportunity to name a sixth judge to the nine-person bench.
The incident took place in January in the lounge of an Arizona resort, where Brown had been attending a banquet and delivering a speech. Police were called after a physical altercation involving Brown and another man, but beyond that the facts of what happened are murky.
Media reports have cited a complainant’s allegations that Brown was intoxicated and allegedly following a group of women. But Brown issued a statement calling those claims “demonstrably false” and said he had been the subject of an unprovoked attack.
Brown had been one of four remaining Supreme Court judges appointed by former Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Unlike in the US, judges on Canada’s top court face mandatory retirement at age 75.
Trudeau used his last two appointments to make the high court more diverse. In June 2021, he named the first-ever non-White justice to the court and last August added the first Indigenous judge to the bench.
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