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“Given the potential impact on the court, I wished to ensure that the government was aware of the eligibility issue,” McLachlin said.

“At no time did I express any opinion as to the merits of the eligibility issue. It is customary for chief justices to be consulted during the appointment process and there is nothing inappropriate in raising a potential issue affecting a future appointment.”

The comments came just as Harper himself defended his own actions in the controversy that surrounded the nomination of Marc Nadon, a semi-retired Federal Court of Appeal judge from Quebec who in March was ruled ineligible by the very panel of justices the prime minister wanted him to join.

Harper said he consulted constitutional and legal experts both within and outside the government, and they agreed there would be no problem in nominating Nadon to one of the three spots on the court reserved for Quebec judges.

It would have been “totally inappropriate” to have consulted the Supreme Court justices themselves about the appointment, Harper said.

“The other suggestion that has been made is that rather than consulting experts from outside, I should have consulted judges who would eventually be ruling on the case,” Harper told a news conference in London, Ont.

“I believe that would be totally inappropriate.”

Were the prime minister or other minister of the Crown to consult a high court judge about a case due to come before the courts, “I think all the opposition, the media and the legal community would be completely shocked by that kind of behaviour,” Harper said.