The Supreme Court case studies

Question 1

after the 2019 Gina Miller ruling the Daily Mail printed a photo of all the justices and labelled them traitors

Answer 1

media reactions to the supreme court rulings

Question 2

Scottish Gender Reform Act 2023

Answer 2

(scottish high court) ruled that the Scottish government overstepped its powers in attempting to update laws on gender identitity as it contradicted those set out in the 2010 equality act

Question 3

Gina Miller case 2017

Answer 3

ruled that the executive was ultra vires in proroguing parliament

Question 4

Scottish Independence Referendum case of 2022

Answer 4

ruled that there should only be one referendum per generation and thus the Westminster government was interpreting the 1998 Scotland Act correctly - lead to the resignation of Nicola Sturgeon as first minister

Question 5

in 2011, the UK parliament votes against giving prisoners the right to vote despite the European Court of Human Rights ruling they had to

Answer 5

failure of the ECHR to get the UK government to act

Question 6

Steinfeld and Keidan vs the Secretary of State for International Development 2018

Answer 6

the supreme court allowed the appeal and ruled that civil partnerships should not discriminate against heterosexual couples. forced the government to act when they ammended the 2004 Civil Partnerships Act in 2019

Question 7

the ECHR stopped Brown from freezing terrorist assets

Answer 7

an example of the UKSC forcing the UK government to act

Question 8

the 2004 Belmarsh Case

Answer 8

• did force Blair to release prisoners
• but parliament tightened UK government powers e.g. could effectively put suspects under house arrest in the 2005 Prevention of Terrorism Act

Question 9

the Rwanda Bill

Answer 9

the SC stood up to the UK government by ruling that the policy was contrary to the Human Rights Act.

• however in response the UK government passed a law saying Rwanda was safe - basically legalised their actions

Question 10

Shamima Begum case

Answer 10

SC rules that home secretary wasn’t ultra vires (maybe more cautious after Daily Mail’s comments)

Question 11

after 9/11 Blair passed anti-terror laws which undermined the Human Rights Act

Answer 11

shows rights protection has not increased and supreme court is weak in enforcing them

Question 11

conservative governments have threatened to leave ECHR and repeal the HRA - want to replace it with a weaker bill of rights

Answer 11

shows rights are not effectively protected, especially since they are not entrenched or codified in a constitution