Supreme Court

Question 1

is the supreme court representative?

Answer 1

-No - it has a male, pale and stale majority with 10 men and only two women, with the majority being privately and oxbridge educated

Question 2

how are appointments made?

Answer 2

• nominations made by independent selection commission
• the lord chancellor then confirms or rejects these nominations although they cant reject a recommendation more than once
• this is then confirmed by the PM and Monarch (although these are largely ceremonial)
• the lord chancellor used to be a member of the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary, but the constitutional reform act made it so they are only part of executive (separation of powers)

Question 3

what are the key features of the supreme court?

Answer 3

• only UK wide court
• final court of appeal for judgements made in lower courts
• is the final court of appeal for criminal cases and civil cases
• it hears cases of significant public and constitutional importance
• rules whether devolved authorities have acted outside their powers

Question 4

what is judicial neutrality?

Answer 4

• judges should not be swayed by their own political opinions
• judges should not engage in any public political activity
• judges cannot sit on any cases that involve a relative or someone close to the
• cases are fully explained on their website meaning anyone can scrutinise them

Question 5

what are examples of where the neutrality has been questioned?

Answer 5

• in 2016, the Daily Mail called the court ‘enemies of the people’ after certain decisions over Brexit
• Lady Hale was questioned how representative the court and how this impacted on neutrality - 13 appointments after hers, all male, all white, 11 went to private schools
• some claimed that the decision over the prorogation of parliament had political bias

Question 6

what is judicial independence?

Answer 6

• this is where the supreme court is free from government/political interference
• judges cannot be removed from office unless they break the law or become 70 years old
• their pay is protected from government meaning they cannot have financial pressure being put on them
• they are elected via an independent appointments commission
• security of tenure - can act freely against government

Question 7

what powers does the supreme court have with rights?

Answer 7

• interpreting the HRA is a huge part of the SC’s role

- they can make a declaration of incompatibility if the law does not align with HRA

Question 8

how does parliamentary sovereignty have an effect on the SC’s power?

Answer 8

-due to parliamentary sovereignty, it cannot force parliament and the government to comply. the lack of an entrenched and codified constitution means that the power of the SC to restrict the power of Parliament is limited

Question 9

what is the ultra vires rule?

Answer 9

-the court has the ability to rule that a public body has acted beyond the authority that the law gives them

Question 10

what are examples of where the SC has declared a body has acted Ultra Vires?

Answer 10

• 2012 - the supreme court declared Chris Grayling had acted Ultra Vires when he attempted to use secondary legislative powers to introduce a controversial ‘residence test’
• Scottish Parliament passed bills that copy a European and UN charter into Scottish Law - in April 2021, the UK Govt referred these bills to the SC on the basis that they are Ultra Vires

Question 11

what is Judicial Review?

Answer 11

the power to review the actions of other bodies of the Govt and judge if they have Broken the law or acted in a way that is incompatable with the HRA

Question 12

what is an example of Judicial Review?

Answer 12

• Johnson Proroguing of Parliament in 2019 - judged Johnson to have acted unlawfully and the decision to prorogue parliament was reversed.
• although, this could be bypassed if Johnson were to create a law which said he could do this as there is no entrenched constitution