Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, also known as the NOTWITHSTANDING CLAUSE, is one of the Constitution’s most controversial and least well understood provisions.  By invoking the notwithstanding clause, the government can insulate a law from the strongest order a court can issue, which is to strike down the law because it infringes a Charter right or freedom. Some experts have called for a total moratorium on the use of this clause on the grounds that it is fundamentally incompatible with the tenets of a liberal constitutional democracy, while others have defended the clause on precisely the opposite basis, namely, that it preserves democracy by allowing elected lawmakers rather than unelected, unaccountable judges, the last word on questions of rights.  Peter Biro has, for many years, been writing and speaking about the notwithstanding clause and calling either for its repeal or for laws limiting its use and modifying its operation.