That's what "striking down" a law is. Even in the US!
From the Opinion in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association:
> And courts do not have the power to “excise” or “strike down”
statutes. See 39 Op. Atty. Gen. 22, 22–23 (1937) (“The
decisions are practically in accord in holding that the
courts have no power to repeal or abolish a statute”);
Harrison 82 (“[C]ourts do not make [nonseverable] provisions inoperative . . . . Invalidation by courts is a figure of
speech”)
> But the federal judiciary has no authority to alter or annul a statute.
The power of judicial review is more limited: It allows a court to decline
to enforce a statute, and to enjoin the executive from enforcing that
statute. But the judicially disapproved statute continues to exist as a law
until it is repealed by the legislature that enacted it, even as it goes
unenforced by the judiciary or the executive. And it is always possible
that a future court might overrule the decision that declared the statute
unconstitutional, thereby liberating the executive to resume enforcing
the statute against anyone who has violated it. Judicial review is not a
power to suspend or “strike down” legislation; it is a judicially imposed
non-enforcement policy that lasts only as long as the courts adhere to
the constitutional objections that persuaded them to thwart the statute’s enforcement.
That being said. You said the written constitution of Canada. From both the UK and the US perspective that's really confusing. Canada's constitution is partly written and partly unwritten and slowly expands over time as other documents are entrenched.
From the US perspective, the Canadian constitution isn't the same kind of entity as the US constitution, it's just an Act of Parliament. From the UK perspective this means that anything goes because obviously Parliament should get to change its Act as it wishes (one of the core tenants is that past Parliaments cannot bind future Parliaments).
From the Opinion in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association:
> And courts do not have the power to “excise” or “strike down” statutes. See 39 Op. Atty. Gen. 22, 22–23 (1937) (“The decisions are practically in accord in holding that the courts have no power to repeal or abolish a statute”); Harrison 82 (“[C]ourts do not make [nonseverable] provisions inoperative . . . . Invalidation by courts is a figure of speech”)
Which then goes on to cite this Virginia Law review that goes into detail about the confusion between the terminology vs the reality: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/URLs_Cited/OT2017/16-4...
> But the federal judiciary has no authority to alter or annul a statute. The power of judicial review is more limited: It allows a court to decline to enforce a statute, and to enjoin the executive from enforcing that statute. But the judicially disapproved statute continues to exist as a law until it is repealed by the legislature that enacted it, even as it goes unenforced by the judiciary or the executive. And it is always possible that a future court might overrule the decision that declared the statute unconstitutional, thereby liberating the executive to resume enforcing the statute against anyone who has violated it. Judicial review is not a power to suspend or “strike down” legislation; it is a judicially imposed non-enforcement policy that lasts only as long as the courts adhere to the constitutional objections that persuaded them to thwart the statute’s enforcement.
That being said. You said the written constitution of Canada. From both the UK and the US perspective that's really confusing. Canada's constitution is partly written and partly unwritten and slowly expands over time as other documents are entrenched.
From the US perspective, the Canadian constitution isn't the same kind of entity as the US constitution, it's just an Act of Parliament. From the UK perspective this means that anything goes because obviously Parliament should get to change its Act as it wishes (one of the core tenants is that past Parliaments cannot bind future Parliaments).
Anyway. That's how striking down laws works.