Is the Notwithstanding Clause really “a dagger pointed at the heart of our fundamental freedoms”, as the late Senator Eugene Forsey warned?  It depends on whether its use ousts the court’s jurisdiction to undertake judicial review of a protected law, says Peter Biro. “It is one thing, after all, for a law to operate notwithstanding its inconsistency with a Charter provision. It is another thing altogether for such an operation to occur in darkness.”