Judiciary

• Three feaurures of composition

  • - security of tenure with JAC - open ended term - impeachment requires vote from both chambers - guaranteed salaries
  • Independence - JAC under CRA 2005 - addresses accusations of political bias - still see white Oxbridge majority
  • Contempt of court - sub judice rule meas media ministers and public cannot speak during legal proceedings - after though media is harrowing
• How is neutrality guaranteed :

  • Anonymity unlike US - JAC choose and its not a media show
  • No political activity and are barred from canvassing
  • Legal justifications - senior judges are made to explain decisions - meritocracy unlike US
• How has neutrality been threatened :

  Narrow recruiting pool - harder to make impartial decisions when lack majority experiences - Oxbridge - JAC does little to help

  • reaction of right wing press to judgements on article 50 - parliament proroguing - rwanda etc
  • HRA has brought them into severe conflict over rulings eg Rwanda - gov scrutinise them
• Criticism of sc

  • no ethnic minorities and two women - wider judiciary is more represetative - over 50% women
  • Elitism - 75% private school - 92% Oxbridge vs 1% - far from reality of public
  • Intervening too much in executive - HRA - prorogation - can only do incompatibility though
• Three roles of Supreme Court

  • Final court of appeal - e.g Julian Assange after high court rule he can appeal - Shamima Begum can’t appeal ruling
  • Uncertainty over meaning of Law - Platt v Isle of wight - school holidays meaning - attend ‘regularly‘ didnt mean spaced out or often
  • Judicial review - rview actions of public officials or bodies and if lawful - beyond Ines power Ultra Vires - Boris prorouging parliament and Chris Grayling and Prison Book Ban 2012 - unawful AND SCRAPPED
• Ultra Vires

  • Grayling and employment tribunal fees - £1200 - discriinate women - gov refunded £27 mil
  • 2012 book ban - reform groups called it cruel - Michael gove scrapped
  • Gina Miller and Article 50 - Supreme Court ruled in parliaments favour
• Clarofying meaning of law

  • Radmacher v gRANATINO 2010 - prenups are binding
  • Isle of Wight v Platt 2017 - ‘regularly‘ didnt mean evenly spaced or sufficient and instead in accordance with attendance rules
  • Miller v Parliament - who signs article 50 - sc ruled in her favour
• Ultra Vires

  • Bridges v South Wales 2020 - police took sensetive biometric date from 50k without consent - court of appeal found it breached gdpr, equality and privacy
  • Grayling and book an 2014 - strange to treat books as a privelage when imperative - reaidng is a right - Michael gove scrapped
  • Grayling anf employment tribunals - £1200 - discriminatory - give repaid over 27 million
• Freedom of information act 200

  • black spider memos 2015 - letters from Prince Charles to ministers - gov said no - court said yes
  • British pilots carry out aur strike in Syria despite commons voting against military action - cameron aware for months but failed to reveal
  • Mp expense scandal 2009 - 7 mps sentecned
• HRA

  • treasury v Ahmed 2010 - wanted to freeze assets of suspected terrorist - ruled illegal as against presumption of innocence and hra
  • Shamima Begum v Home Secretary 2023 - Article 8 .2 only went so Far with national security involveed - upheld the ruling and appeal dismissed
  • Rwanda bill breaks article 3 in 2023 - Supreme Court ruling but government made amendments and legalised it by saying Rwanda was safe
• appeals court

  • ultravires
  • hra 1998
  • eu law up to Brexit 2021
• 1998 human rights act incorporated ECHR into uk law - ordinary people could take gov to court
• Is SC too powerful - yes

  • Greater authority due to new perception - transforming the way in which the public and media accept and view rulings
  • Judicial review interferes with executive anf parliament voters vote for Brexit but sc said needed parliaments permission to proceed
  • Judges overinterpret eaning - school holidays unelected and unaccountable
  • out of touch - Oxbridge
  • undermine Parliamentary legislative authority + sovereignty
• SC too powerful - no

  • ame amount of power as lords - can critique and doi but ultimately can be overruled - never faced criticism when in appelate committee
  • judicial independance requires security of tenure and free from arbitrarily removed from office
  • JAC - unlike ministers they are onto chosen and instead meritocracy - no bias