Samuel LaSelva (D.Phil., Oxford) works on political theory, legal philosophy, and constitutional thought and his publications fall within these areas. His research includes The Moral Foundations of Canadian Federalism as well as essays on J.S. Mill in Political Studies and on the Charter of Rights in the Canadian Journal of Political Science. He is currently at work primarily on the ethics of constitutionalism which includes such topics as hate speech, sexist pornography, secession, multiculturalism, and Aboriginal self-government. He has supervised graduate theses in all areas of his teaching and research.

Samuel LaSelva, Canada and the Ethics of Constitutionalism: Identity, Destiny, and Constitutional Faith   (McGill-Queen’s University Press; in press, December 2018)

Samuel LaSelva, “Toleration Without Hate Speech: The Keegstra Decision, American Free Speech Exceptionalism, and Locke’s Letter,” Canadian Journal of Political Science  48:3 (2015): 699-718.

Samuel LaSelva, “The Canadian Charter, the British Connection, and the Americanization Thesis: Toward a Montesquieuean Analysis of Rights and Their Protection,”  Canadian Journal of Political Science  50:4 (2017): 1061-1081.

“‘I Know It When I See It’: Pornography and Constitutional Vision in Canada and the United States,” in S. Newman, ed., Constitutional Politics in Canada and the United States, SUNY, in press.

“Mosaic and Melting-Pot: The Dialectic of Pluralism and Constitutional Faith in Canada and the United States,” in H. Telford and H. Lazar, eds., Canadian Political Culture(s) in Transition, McGill Queen’s University Press, 2002.“Federalism, Pluralism and Constitutional Faith,” Review of Constitutional Studies, 2002.

“Liberalism, Feminism, and Pornography: Regina v. Butler” (with R. Vernon), in H. Mellon and M. Westmacott, eds., Political Dispute and Judicial Review, Nelson, 2000.“Pluralism and Hate: Freedom, Censorship, and the Canadian Identity,” in K. Petersen and A. Hutchinson, eds., Interpreting Censorship in Canada, University of Toronto Press, 1999.

“Divided Houses: Secession and Constitutional Faith in Canada and the United States,” Vermont Law Review, 1999.

“Aboriginal Self-Government and the Foundations of Canadian Nationhood,” B.C. Studies, Winter 1998/99.