The Supreme Court

Question 1

What are arguement that the Supreme Court has too much power?

Answer 1

-Unelected and Unrepresentative
-Able to declare acts of incompatibility (HRA)
-‘Ultra vires’ cases

Question 2

What are arguements that the Supreme Court doesn’t have too much power?

Answer 2

-Ensurance of Judicial Neutrality
-Parliamentary sovereignty
-Coincides with parliamentary soveriegnty

Question 3

Why was the Supreme Court made?

Answer 3

Impelemented by the Constitution Reform Act 2005 to end the fusion of powers at the highest level of the UK judiciary as the previous ‘law lords’ had sat in the House of Lords. This made the Judiciary clearly independent of Parlaiment, alligning it with most other Western countries.

Question 4

What is the role of the Supreme Court?

Answer 4

Acts as the final court of appeal for criminal cases in England, Wales and NI. As well as civil cases across the whole of the UK.

The Supreme court hears appeals on arguable points of law where matters of wider public and constitutional importance are involved. It also makes rulings on cases where the devolved authorities in Scotland, Wales and NI may not have acted within their powers.

Question 5

What did the Times categorise the Supreme Court as in 2011?

Answer 5

‘pale, male and stale,

Question 6

How many members of the Supreme Court are there?

Answer 6

There are 12 members although cases are always heard by an odd number of justices so that majority verdicts can be achieved

Question 7

What are common qualifications of a Supreme Court Justice?

Answer 7

-Served as a lawyer for atleast 15 years
-Served as a senior judge for two years

Question 8

What happens when a Supreme Court vacancy occurs?

Answer 8

Nominations are made by an independant, five member Selection Committee consisting of: The president of the court. Senior UK judge , one lay member (not a lawyer or judge) and a member of each of the equivalent bodies for Scotland and NI. The Lord Chancellor (Justice Secretary) either confirms or rejects the person put forward although he or she cannot reject names repeatedly. The appointment is confirmed by the PM and then the monarch.

Question 9

What are the two key principles of the Supreme Court?

Answer 9

-Judicial neutrality
-Judicial independance

Question 10

What is judicial neutrality?

Answer 10

The expectation that judges will exercise function without bias

Question 11

How must judges maintain judical neutrality?

Answer 11

-Conflicts of interest, judges must refuse to sit in a case that involves a family memeber, friend or professional assosciate

-Public activities, judges may write and give lectures as part of their function of educating the public, and they may involve themselves in charitable and voluntary activites, but they must avoid political activity. They may serve on an official body such as government commission provided that it does not compromise their political neutrality.

Question 12

What is Judicial independence?

Answer 12

The principle that judges must be free from political interference.

Question 13

Why is Judicial independence important?

Answer 13

They may be called upon in cases where there is conflict between an individual and state an people must know that they will recieve impartial justice

Question 14

How is Judicial independence ensured?

Answer 14

Terms of employment - Judges cannot be removed from office unless they break the law. The only limit on their service is the official retirement age which is 70 for those who have been appointed to a judicial post since the end of March 1995. This is known as security of tenure. Judges are also immune from legal action arising from any comments they make on the cases in court.

Pay - Judges salaries are paid automatically from an independent known as the Consolidated fund, without the possibility of manipulation by ministers

Appointment - The Judicial Appointments commission and the Selection Commission for the Supreme Court are transparent in their procedure and free froom politcal intervention.

Question 15

What is security of tenure?

Answer 15

It ensure judicial independence, stating that they cannot be removed unless they break the law or reach the retirement age of 70

Question 16

When does the Supreme Court make a ‘declaration of incompatibility’?

Answer 16

When it finds that a piece of primary legislation is incompatible with the rights protected by the ECHR

Question 17

What is a limitation of the Supreme Court?

Answer 17

Parliamentary sovereignty prevents them from blocking a piece of legislation that is incompatible with the ECHR unlike their US counterpats. Parliament is instead expected to revise the legislation to make it compatible.

Question 18

What does ‘ultra vires mean’?

Answer 18

Latin for ‘beyond one’s powers’

Question 19

What is the function of judicial review?

Answer 19

Examine whether ministers followed the correct procedures in the way they have implemented legislation and determine whether they have acted ‘ultra vires’

Question 20

Describe the unrepresentative composition of the current Supreme Court

Answer 20

There are 12 justices
-11 male
-12 white
-11 have studied at Oxbridge
-12 are over 60

Question 21

Describe how the unrepresentative nature of the Supreme Court affected the case of Radmacher V Granatino (2010)

Answer 21

It was case involving a prenuptial agreement between marriage partners, in which a majority of the Justices upheld the principle that claims made in the event of a divorce should be limited.

Lady Hale, the only female justice, was the only one of 9 justices to dissent from the majority verdict. She gave her reason to be that the vast majority who would lose out as a result of the precedent would be women and argued that it may better for parliament to make such decisions where gender is such a key element of the case.

Question 22

What does the case of Radmacher and Garantino (2010) highlight?

Answer 22

That the narrow composition of the Supreme Court impedes its ability to uphold the principle of judicial neutrality.

Question 23

How long did the current president of the Supreme Court serve as a Judge?

Answer 23

Lord Robert Reed served as a senior judge since 1998, highlighting how despite being unrepresentative Supreme Court members are qualified

Question 24

What issue would an elected Supreme Court create?

Answer 24

Could lead to it becoming politicised, impeding its independence - like in the US.

Question 25

How is Supreme Court decision transparency ensured?

Answer 25

Judges have to base each decision in law and provide a full explanation on how and why they've reached it. Supreme Court decisions are published in full for people to read and scrutinise whilst cases are televised on YouTube.

Question 26

What is the Joint Committee on Human Rights?

Answer 26

A parliamentary committe whose job is to scutinise bills and ensure they are compatible, demonstrating the persuasive influence of the HRA

Question 27

Give examples of Primary Legislation that has been declared 'incompatible' by the Supreme Court

Answer 27

- R (Steinfield and Keiden) V Secretary and State for International development in 2018, the Civil Partnership Act 2004 was declared incompatible with articles 14 and 8 of the Human Right Act as they precluded heterosexual couples from entering civil partnerships. The legislation was then ammended in 2019 in the Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths Act. - Mercer V Secretary of State for Business and Trade (2024) argued that section 146 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act (1992) failed to protect workers from sanctions short of dismissal (such as suspension) for participating in lawful strike action, making it incompatible with Article 11 of the HRA.

Question 28

Give examples of the limitations of the Supreme Court's power to declare legislation as 'incompatible'

Answer 28

-Despite the ruling in Mercer V Secretary of State for Business and Trade in 2024 the Government, despite increased pressure, has still not ammended section 146 highlighting how legislative matter's are ultimately decided by Parliament, specifically government, rather than the Supreme Court -The Illegal Migration Bill was introduced by Suella Braverman in March 2023 with a section 19 note stating there was the likelihood that provisions in the bill of the bill would be incompatible with HRA and International law but that the government wanted to proceed with it nonetheless -Furhtermore, due to the unentrenched constitution Parliament could change the HRA if they so choose

Question 29

What can the Supreme Court do if they believe the government has acted 'ultra vires'

Answer 29

-Sanction the government -Force them to reverse their action

Question 30

What is a criticism of the Supreme Court's 'ultra vires' power?

Answer 30

Supreme Court has too much power as despite being unelected, and by extension unrepresentative, it can overturn the actions of a democratically elected government with a national mandate.

Question 31

Give examples of the Supreme Court using its powers of 'ultra vires'

Answer 31

-In the 2019 Prorogation case, Boris Johnson's government prorogued parliament arguing that the prorogation was a routine one that ordinarily follows the selection of a new Prime Minister, the Supreme Court disagreed and unanimously ruled that the prorogation was unlawful, reversing the prorogation and reinstalling Parliament -In the 2024 Jackdaw and Rosebank Oil and Gas case the Supreme Court ruled that the previous Conservative government had broken the law in 2023 and 2024, when it approved new oil and gas projects, Jackdaw and Rosebank without properly considering its full environmental impact. This decision revoked the approvals for the project until the government proposed them again whilst properly conidering the full environmental consequences of the projects.

Question 32

Give examples that Supreme Court is justified in using its 'ultra vires' power

Answer 32

-In the 2019 prorogation case the Supreme Court simply prevented Boris Johnson from avoiding parliamentary scrutiny through using the power to prorogue parliament for the government's benefit. Therefore legitamately upholding the sovereignty of Parliament.

Question 33

Give examples of the Supreme Court siding with the UK Government when using its ultra vires power

Answer 33

-The power is sometimes used to protect the power of the UK Parliament and government against devolved bodies. In the 2022 Second Referendum on Scottish Independence Case, the UK Supreme Court ruled that the Scotland Act (1998) doesn’t give the Scottish Parliament the power to unilaterally legislate for an independence referendum. Ruling against the Scottish Government, it sided with the UK Government and ruled that the consent of the UK Parliament was necessary.

Question 34

Describe how Johnson's government changed the law to remove the Supreme Court's power of judicial review (ultra vires)

Answer 34

-The Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022, which was introduced to repeal the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, also included an ouster clause, which explicitly removed the Supreme Court’s power of judicial review in relation to the dissolution of Parliament. The law states that a court cannot question the exercise of the Prime Minister’s power to dissolve Parliament or the limit or extent of these powers. They are ‘non-justiciable’.This can be seen as a direct response to the Supreme Court’s 2019 decision (in the ‘Miller 2’ case) to reverse the government’s prorogation of Parliament, ensuring that judicial review in relation to this power can’t happen again. This shows the limits of the Supreme Court’s power, as Parliament can pass laws to limit the Supreme Court’s power and change the law if they don’t like how it is being implemented.

Question 35

Describe how Sunak's government changed the law to combat the Supreme Court's judicial review

Answer 35

-The government passed The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act in April 2024. The act states that Rwanda must be considered a safe country for asylum seekers and that international law and the Human Rights Act must be put aside to allow for the deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda, therefore removing the individual right to judicial review on these grounds. This followed the court’s November 2023 ruling that the government’s Rwanda plan was illegal. They argued that as a result, the policy was against the Human Rights Act and the 1951 Refugee Convention, as Rwanda couldn’t be defined as a ‘safe country’.

Question 36

What is highlighted by both Sunak and Johnson's changes to the law in reponse to the Supreme Court?

Answer 36

That the Supreme Court can only protect rights if the law does and since parliament has the ability to change the law they remain superior.

Question 37

What were the roles did the Lord Chancellor have prior to the 2005 Constitutional Reform Act?

Answer 37

-Appointed Senior Judges -Was a government minister -Chaired the House of Lords

Question 38

What is the salary of a Suprem Court Justice?

Answer 38

Approx £226,000 per year to give them less incentive to be influence by financial pressure from politcal actors.

Question 39

What are sub judice rules?

Answer 39

Prevent MPs, government ministers and the media from speaking publicly about impending or ongoing legal proceedings.

Question 40

What factor can be argued to have weakened judicial independence in recent years?

Answer 40

Increased media scutiny of the judiciary and the Supreme Court espescially relating to Brexit and Immigration The judiciary is no longer as anomonous as they used to be, being subject to criticism from both the media an politician government (ministers)

Question 41

How did Sunak react to the Supreme Court's ruling of the Rwanda plan being 'unlawful'?

Answer 41

Sunak said in the wake of the ruling 'I've also been clear that I will not allow a foreign court to block us from flights taking off' stating both his and Britain's patience has 'worn thin'. This presented the court as interfering as interfering in policy with the implication of judical overeach, identifying it as a 'foreign court'. This hammers the court's ability to operate future cases with sufficeint judicial independence due to fear of potential political backlash

Question 42

Why was Starmer criticised by Lady Chief Justice Carr?

Answer 42

The Lady Chief Justice (head of the judiciary but not on the Supreme Court) criticised Starmer after, in early 2025, he stated that a judicial decision regarding the resettlement of a Gazan family was 'completely wrong' and that a legal loop hole would be closed as a result. The Lady Chief Justice said that the Government failed to visibly respect and protect the independence of the Judiciary, and any dissent should be made through the appelate process, not verbal attacks, in order to protect judicial independence.

Question 43

How did the Supreme Court's ruling on the biological definiton of a women potentially highlight a lack of judicial independence.

Answer 43

The Supreme Court's ruling of the defintion of a women in the Equality Act being 'biological' could potentially have been influenced years of adovcating by Scottish Women's group (FWA), backed by high profile figues such as J.K Rowling. The ruling also faced extreme backlash from politicians woth Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman describing the ruling as stemming from 'bigotry, prejudice and hatred.'

Question 44

How was the Judicial neutrality of the Suprem Court questioned after their decision to prevent the prorogation of Parliament?

Answer 44

Various right wing commentators and Johnson's allies describe the Supreme Court Judges as 'arch remainers'. Critics therefore argue that the judges were not arguing with sufficient judicial neutrality and was influenced by anti-Brexit views that were common among those with high levels of education.

Question 45

How was the Judicial independence of the high court questioned by the Times

Answer 45

Ran the headline 'Enemies of the People'

Question 46

Defend the Supreme Court's decision to prorogue parliament

Answer 46

They were right to require parliament's consent as triggering Article 50 and starting the process of leaving the EU involved the removal of rights conferred by parliament (Passing the 1972 European Communities Act)

Question 47

How many applications for judicial review were there in 2018

Answer 47

3597