The Charter Dialogue between Courts and Legislatures (Or Perhaps the Charter of Rights Isn\u27t Such a Bad Thing after All)

This article responds to the argument that judicial review of legislation under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is illegitimate because it is undemocratic. The authors show that Charter cases nearly always can be, and often are, followed by new legislation that still accomplishes the same objectives as the legislation that was struck down. The effect of the Charter is rarely to block a legislative objective, but rather to influence the design of implementing legislation. Charter cases cause a public debate in which Charter-protected rights have a more prominent role than they would have if there had been no judicial decision. The process is best regarded as a dialogue between courts and legislatures

El diálogo de la "carta" entre los tribunales y las legislaturas : o quizás la carta de derechos no es algo tan malo después de todo

Este artículo responde al argumento de que la revisión judicial bajo la Carta de los Derechos y Libertades canadiense es ilegítima porque no es democrática. Los autores muestran que los casos de la Carta casi siempre pueden ser, y muchas veces son, seguidos por una nueva legislación que todavía cumple con los mismos objetivos que la legislación que fue invalidada. El efecto de la Carta casi nunca es bloquear un objetivo legislativo, sino más bien influenciar el diseño de la legislación que se está implementando. Los casos de la Carta causan un debate público en el cual los derechos protegidos por la Carta tienen un rol más prominente del que habrían tenido si no hubiese habido una decisión judicial. El proceso debe ser visto como un “diálogo” entre tribunales y legislaturas

Thriving under Stress: Selective Translation of HIV-1 Structural Protein mRNA during Vpr-Mediated Impairment of eIF4E Translation Activity

Translation is a regulated process and is pivotal to proper cell growth and homeostasis. All retroviruses rely on the host translational machinery for viral protein synthesis and thus may be susceptible to its perturbation in response to stress, co-infection, and/or cell cycle arrest. HIV-1 infection arrests the cell cycle in the G2/M phase, potentially disrupting the regulation of host cell translation. In this study, we present evidence that HIV-1 infection downregulates translation in lymphocytes, attributable to the cell cycle arrest induced by the HIV-1 accessory protein Vpr. The molecular basis of the translation suppression is reduced accumulation of the active form of the translation initiation factor 4E (eIF4E). However, synthesis of viral structural proteins is sustained despite the general suppression of protein production. HIV-1 mRNA translation is sustained due to the distinct composition of the HIV-1 ribonucleoprotein complexes. RNA-coimmunoprecipitation assays determined that the HIV-1 unspliced and singly spliced transcripts are predominantly associated with nuclear cap binding protein 80 (CBP80) in contrast to completely-spliced viral and cellular mRNAs that are associated with eIF4E. The active translation of the nuclear cap binding complex (CBC)-bound viral mRNAs is demonstrated by ribosomal RNA profile analyses. Thus, our findings have uncovered that the maintenance of CBC association is a novel mechanism used by HIV-1 to bypass downregulation of eIF4E activity and sustain viral protein synthesis. We speculate that a subset of CBP80-bound cellular mRNAs contribute to recovery from significant cellular stress, including human retrovirus infection