Abstract

Judicial bias in sexual assault cases is generally associated with the conduct of sitting judges who engage in victim blaming and reserve the full protection of the law to ideal victims. However, this paper seeks to examine the role of the Canadian Judicial Council (CJC) in perpetuating sexist stereotypes in the legal realm. It does so by juxtaposing the CJC’s handling of two judicial misconduct complaints, one in which a male judge exhibited bias against women while adjudicating a sexual assault trial and a second in which graphic, sexual pictures of a female judge were posted on the internet without her knowledge or consent. The proposition offered is that the CJC’s gendered record in disposing of the two judicial misconduct cases was similarly informed by the notional ideal victim, further perpetuating sexism both in Canadian courtrooms and among the judiciary.