Sujit Choudhry

Practice Areas

Sujit Choudhry practices constitutional, administrative, public, and human rights law in Canada and globally. He is head of Chambers for Hāki Chambers Global, a global public law chambers with expertise on legal matters with constitutional, international, transnational, and public interest dimensions.

As one of Canada’s leading public law litigators, Sujit focuses on test cases with public interest and transnational dimensions. He is increasingly engaged in Charter class actions against Canadian governments.

Sujit regularly appears as counsel on judicial reviews, applications, arbitrations, and public inquiries. He is often retained by other firms, including as co-counsel, on complex constitutional cases. He frequently represents NGOs, legal clinics, and public interest organizations.

Sujit has litigated and advised on public law issues in a wide variety of contexts, including social media, political party governance, public health, national security, immigration and refugees, telecommunications, aviation, labour relations, agriculture, education, social assistance, social services, gaming, democratic reform, and emergency powers.

He also has an extensive counsel practice, providing advice on complex constitutional issues to individuals, large and small corporations, Canadian governments, foreign governments, government commissions and committees, public sector agencies, industry trade associations, and international organizations.

Sujit is also qualified as an arbitrator by the ADR Institute of Canada.

For more information on Hāki Chambers Global, visit: https://hakichambers.com/

Career

Sujit Choudhry holds law degrees from Toronto, Harvard, and Oxford (as a Rhodes Scholar). He served as Law Clerk to former Chief Justice Antonio Lamer of the Supreme Court of Canada before being called to the Bar of Ontario in 2001.

For nearly two decades, Sujit was a full-time constitutional law scholar at the University of Toronto, NYU, and UC Berkeley (where he served as Dean). He currently serves as a Gastwissenschaftler (guest researcher) at Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung. He has also been a visiting professor at the University of Melbourne, the City University of Hong Kong, and Reichman University.

He has published 9 books and over 100 articles, book chapters, working papers, and reports, and has lectured or spoken in three dozen countries. His work has been cited with approval by the Supreme Court of Canada, the Supreme Court of New Zealand, and courts across Canada.

For over 20 years, Sujit has been an advisor to constitutional reform, democracy support and peace processes, including in Cyprus, Egypt, Ethiopia, Jordan, Libya, Myanmar, Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tunisia, Ukraine, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.

He founded the Center for Constitutional Transitions, which generates and mobilizes knowledge in support of constitution building. He is also a Senior Advisor to the Forum of Federations, co-convenor of the Initiative on Apex Court Appointments, and a member of the International Advisory Board of the International Institute for Integrated Transitions.

Sujit is a former member of the Board of Directors of Legal Aid Ontario and of the Governing Toronto Advisory Panel which proposed major reforms to the structure of municipal government in Toronto. He was a consultant to the National Advisory Committee on SARS and Public Health (the Naylor Committee), the Royal Commission on the Future of Health Care (the Romanow Commission), and the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform.

Professional Memberships

• Law Society of Ontario

• The Advocates’ Society

• International Society of Public Law

• ICC Canada Arbitration Committee

Publications

Sujit Choudhry has contributed to and/or edited or co-edited several books on constitutional law. These include:

• Global Canons: Debating Foundational Texts in Constitutional Democracy (Oxford University Press, forthcoming)

• Research Handbook on Constitutional Interpretation (Edward Elgar, forthcoming)

• Canadian Constitutional Law, 4th and 6th Editions (Emond Montgomery, 2010 and 2022)

• Security Sector Reform in Constitutional Transitions (Oxford University Press, 2019)

• Territory and Power in Constitutional Transitions (Oxford University Press, 2019)

• The Oxford Handbook of The Indian Constitution (Oxford University Press, 2016)

• Constitution Making (Edward Elgar, 2016).

• Constitutional Design for Divided Societies: Integration or Accommodation? (Oxford University Press, 2008)

• The Migration of Constitutional Ideas (Cambridge University Press, 2006)

• Dilemmas of Solidarity: Rethinking Redistribution in the Canadian Federation (University of Toronto Press, 2006)

In addition, Sujit has published over 100 reports, articles and working papers. His work has been cited with approval by the Supreme Court of Canada, the Supreme Court of New Zealand, and courts across Canada.

He has also been quoted in and written opinion pieces for The Globe and Mail, The National Post, and The Toronto Star, and he has appeared on CBC, CTV, and Global TV.

For a complete list of publications, visit

https://sujitchoudhry.com/publications/

Clients

• Individuals

• Corporations

• Federal, provincial/territorial, municipal governments.

• Foreign states

• Government commissions and committees

• Public sector agencies

• Industry trade associations

• International organizations

• NGOs, legal clinics, and public interest organizations, including Animal Justice, Black Legal Action Centre, British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, Canadian Civil Liberties Association, Canadian Constitution Foundation, Centre for Free Expression, Colour of Poverty-Colour of Change Network, Democracy Watch, Human Rights Watch, South Asian Legal Clinic of British Columbia, South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario.

Experience

For more information, visit:

https://hakichambers.com/team_members/sujit-choudhry/

https://sujitchoudhry.com/bio/

Industry Sector Expertise

• Public health

• Education

• National security

• Telecommunications

• Immigration and Refugees

• Aviation

• Social media

• Government

• Political parties

• Social services

• Social assistance

• Gaming

• Agriculture

Expert in these Jurisdictions

Sujit Choudhry practices in Ontario and across Canada.

In addition to his Canadian practice, Sujit is an internationally recognized authority on comparative constitutional law. For over 20 years, he has been an advisor to constitutional reform, democracy support and peace processes, including in Cyprus, Egypt, Ethiopia, Jordan, Libya, Myanmar, Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tunisia, Ukraine, Yemen, and Zimbabwe. He has lectured or spoken in over three dozen countries.

For more information on Sujit’s international practice, visit

https://sujitchoudhry.com/international/

Languages Spoken

English

Work Highlights

Sujit Choudhry has acted for claimants in an unusually broad variety of public law matters, including:

Canadian Constitution Foundation v. AG Canada: A successful challenge to the legality and constitutionality of public order emergency declared under the Emergencies Act.

Bjorkquist et al. v. AG Canada: A successful Charter challenge to the “second generation cut off” in the Citizenship Act, on the basis of section 15 discrimination based on national origin and sex, section 6 mobility rights, and section 7.

Public Order Emergency Commission (the Rouleau Commission): A public inquiry into the public order emergency declared under the Emergencies Act. Choudhry cross-examined Prime Minister Trudeau, Cabinet ministers, and senior federal civil servants.

Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions. (Hogue Commission): A public inquiry into foreign interference that China, Russia and other foreign actors may have engaged in, and any impact it may have had on the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.

Loshaj v. Minister of Citizenship and Immigration et al.: constitutional challenge to section 39 of the Canada Evidence Act, shielding Cabinet confidences from disclosure in court proceedings.

Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers and South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario v. Minister of Citizenship and Immigration et al.: constitutional challenge to Cabinet's decision to designate the United States as a safe third country for refugee determination decisions.

A.B. et al. v. Minister of Citizenship and Immigration and Minister of Foreign Affairs: Charter challenge to the federal government’s refusal to issue visas promised to Afghan nationals currently in hiding from the Taliban in Afghanistan.

A.A. et al. v. Minister of Citizenship and Immigration and Minister of Foreign Affairs: Charter challenge to the federal government’s failure to confer permanent resident status to Afghan nationals who were members of the law firm which represented Canada for many years.

Ferris v. AG Canada: Charter class action to the Canadian Student Loan Program, for discriminating against disabled students in breach of section 15 of the Charter.

Jacob v. AG Canada: Charter challenge to the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, Canada Recovery Benefit and Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit, for discriminating against disabled workers in breach of section 15 of the Charter.

Cool World v. Twitter: (with Hāki Chambers colleague Joel Bakan) Contract claim against Twitter (now X) for refusing to run an advertisement, raising the question of whether Twitter’s ad policies are void under the doctrine of public policy, which incorporates the Charter value of freedom of expression.

Heegsma v. City of Hamilton: Charter challenge to municipal by-laws prohibiting encampments on the basis of sections 7 and 15 (race, indigeneity, sex, marital status, and disability) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Zoghbi v. Air Canada: Judicial review of a decision of the Canadian Human Rights Commission that international aviation is exempt from remedy of damages under the Canadian Human Rights Act.

Turner v. Death Investigation Oversight Council: The first judicial review of Ontario’s oversight body for forensic pathology established in response to the Goudge Inquiry.

Annamie Paul v. Green Party of Canada: Injunctions against the Green Party Council for breach of the party constitution.

Awards

Education