Rainer Knopff is often described as a member of the Calgary School, which includes a group of conservatively inclined professors at the University of Calgary, such as Barry Cooper, F.L. Morton, Tom Flanagan and history professor David Bercuson who are strongly committed to strategic and direct influence on public affairs with a long term vision. By 1998, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a public policy research institution based in Washington, DC had already observed the ascendancy of the role of Calgary-based academics on Canadian public policy, specifically the Calgary School of political science. The Calgary School are clever strategists who chose to write about contentious, controversial and current topics that "people care about" by simplifying and polarizing complex and sensitive issues giving them dramatic interest and mass appeal. Their role is not to clarify public policy alternatives available to help political leaders make informed choices.
Rainer Knopff writes on constitutional and judicial politics and since 1982, has been particularly active in challenging the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms often co-authoring with F. L. Morton. In their book entitled The Charter Revolution & the Court Party Morton and Knopff argue that "the advent of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has drastically increased the power of judges in Canadian society. In deciding to use their new powers in an activist way, judges have been urged on by what Morton and Knopff call "the Court Party," a loose coalition of feminists, civil libertarians, government lawyers, Supreme Court clerks, law professors, and social activists, many funded principally by government.".
Decriminalization Argument, Reasonable Disagreements and Personal Liberty
Knopff entered into a highly controversial debate in defense of a Calgary School colleague whose career ended abruptly when his comments on the consumption of child pornography were publicized. In a statement from Elizabeth Cannon, President of the University of Calgary, regarding remarks made by Tom Flanagan, the University sought to distance themselves from Flanagan's comments declaring that they "absolutely do not represent the views of the University of Calgary. In the university's view, child pornography is not a victimless crime. All aspects of this horrific crime involve the exploitation of children. Viewing pictures serves to create more demand for these terrible images, which leads to further exploitation of defenseless children." In his criticism of the university, the CBC, the Manning Institute, Knopff cited the "famous Sharpe case" in which "both the trial judge and the B.C. Court of Appeal struck down Canada's criminal prohibition of possessing child pornography" in what was called a "courageous" act in the face of a "hallmark of tyranny." While Rainer agreed with the possession offence, he agreed with his colleague's statement that the demand-side consumption of child pornography is one of personal liberty and suggests that as opposed to the production side, which is a more harmful crime, could be addressed through treatment, not incarceration.
