Supreme Court Examples

Question 1

Give an example of a recent appointment to the supreme court?

Answer 1

Lady Simler who was appointed on the 14th November 2023, she replaced Lord Kitchin.

Question 2

What proportion of supreme court judges attended private school?

Answer 2

8/12.

Question 3

How many judges attended Oxbridge?

Answer 3

11/12

Question 4

Number of female Judges?

Answer 4

1

Question 5

Judges From ethnic minority background?

Answer 5

0

Question 6

Average age of the judges?

Answer 6

66.5

Question 7

What is the first case dealt with in the Supreme Court?

Answer 7

HM Treasury v Ahmed which dealt with separation of powers

Question 8

Which 2 cases have been heard by 11 judges?

Answer 8

R (Miller) v Secretary of state for exiting the European Union.
R (Miller) v The Prime Minister. Both regarding Brexit

Question 9

What is the security of Tenure?

Answer 9

Judges are appointed for open ended terms until the age of 70 which is the age of retirement. E.g. Lady Arden January 2022.

Question 10

How are Judges paid?

Answer 10

They receive funding from the consolidated fund, Prevents political interference. £230000 per year.

Question 11

Which act sets out the Creation of the Supreme Court?

Answer 11

Constitutional Reform act 2005, Supreme Court opened 2009.

Question 12

What two mechanisms secure Judicial Independence?

Answer 12

Judges have immunity for any acts that they carry out performance in their judicial function.
Immunity from Defamation lawsuits for what they say in Court.

Question 13

Recent examples of politicians criticising the supreme court.

Answer 13

in October 2021 There was a major dispute over ministers attacking the supreme court, many in parliament saw this as in-proper.

Question 14

What did the Gina Miller case set out?

Answer 14

Government was acting beyond its powers if it doesn’t allow MP’s to vote on whether to invoke Article 50

Question 15

What features guarantee Judicial Neutrality?

Answer 15

Relative anonymity of Senior Judges.
Restriction on Political activity.
Legal Justification of Judgements.
High - level training.

Question 16

What is the controversy surrounding the supreme court and the Human rights act?

Answer 16

Some argue that the 1998 Human rights act has lead to the politicisation of the Supreme Court as they need to hold parliament accountable for breaches of the act.

Question 17

What did R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (2017) set out?

Answer 17

This case ruled that the British Government could not initiate withdrawal from the European Union without a formal act of parliament granting permission to do so which Parliament responded to by passing European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Act 2017 which passed by 494 to 122 in the Commons.

Question 18

What did R (Miller) v The Prime Minister (2019) Set out?

Answer 18

Boris Johnson had advised to the queen that Parliament be prorogued in order to pass a Brexit Deal. The Supreme Court ruled 11-0 that this was in fact acting Ultra Vires and therefore parliament remained open.

Question 19

What did ZXC v Bloomberg (2022) Set out?

Answer 19

It ruled that Bloomberg had been unlawful in publishing personal details about an American Businessman (ZXC), A number of journalists complained believing that it undermined their right to report frill on matters of public interest.

Question 20

What did R v Secretary of State for the Home Department set out?

Answer 20

This case ruled on whether it was legal for the government to have an application fee of £1’012 for a child to be registered as a British Citizen. The Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Government with Lord Hodges stating that Parliament had granted Priti Patel the ability to do this.

Question 21

What did R v Minister of the Cabinet Office (2022) set out?

Answer 21

This questioned the lawfulness of requiring voters to show ID prior to voting, the court ruled in favour of the Government on the basis that it was legal under the representation of the people act 2000 which allowed small changes to the electoral system.

Question 22

What did AA v Secretary of State for the Home Department (2022) set out?

Answer 22

A Nigerian Man faced deportation however, he had a wife and a child living in the UK therefore by splitting them up it was argued that it would be undermining the right to a family life. Meanwhile the Government argued that this rule only applied when the one being deported faced torture.

Question 23

What did the Supreme Court rule in regards to devolution in November 2022?

Answer 23

They ruled that the Scottish Parliament could not hold a second independence referendum even if it was advisory in nature, the Scottish Parliament had exceeded it’s power and only the UK parliament could order such a thing, Sunak was pleased by this result and although Sturgeon respected the result this stated that it blocked one route to Scotlands voice for independence being heard.