Qlaw Pod - Episode 59 - Anti-Palestinian Racism

Title: Upside Down: Anti-Palestinian Racism, Judicial Bias, and Inverted Racial Power Date: Monday, March 16, 2026 Description: This paper wrestles with the contradiction of legal objectivity/subjectivity using the case study of the bias complaint against Justice Spiro for his interference in the hiring of a scholar at the University of Toronto who applied international law to Israel. We trace the meaning of judicial bias from the Court’s leading decision (RDS) to its citation by B’nai Brith of Canada League for Human Rights (B’nai Brith) in its successful intervention before the Federal Court in Justice Spiro’s case. Whereas RDS conceived of bias as permitting (rare) judicial anti-racism, B’nai Brith, the Canadian Judicial Council, and the Federal Court all conceived bias as, in effect, permitting judicial racism—what we term an “upside down” analysis premised on Zionist subjectivity. Speakers: Joshua Sealy-Harrington - Associate Professor & Chair in Palestinian Human Rights in Canada