PM Harper alleges Supreme Court Chief Justice broke key rule with phone call

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has accused Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin of breaching a basic rule of her office, as a deepening conflict between the government and the country’s highest court breaks out into a public dispute.

The Prime Minister’s Office publicly asserted that the Chief Justice attempted to contact Mr. Harper about a court case, and said that he refused to take her phone call when Justice Minister Peter MacKay told him it would be “inappropriate.”

The case involved Mr. Harper’s Supreme Court appointment of Justice Marc Nadon, whom the court eventually ruled ineligible. Both the public dispute between a prime minister and a chief justice, and the allegation itself, are unprecedented.