Liz Truss may have wanted to abolish it but most will agree the Supreme Court has done an excellent job in its relatively short lifetime of deciding some of the biggest legal issues of our day.
Early high-profile cases dealt with the law on pre-nups, assisted suicide and Julian Assange’s treatment, in contrast to a preponderance of tax law cases that the Law Lords often considered before they were separated out of Parliament in 2009.
More recently, the Supreme Court Justices have hit the headlines for challenging constitutional cases such as Brexit, the proroguing of Parliament, the Scottish referendum and the Rwanda scheme. As the ultimate appeal arbiters in the UK, they have also clarified how the law applies to a wide array of commercial issues – from banks’ Quincecare duties and the enforceability of litigation funding arrangements to water companies’ liabilities over polluted lakes and rivers.
The UK Supreme Court was created by Tony Blair via the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 to achieve a clearer distinction between the legislative and judicial functions of state. Although some feared it would lead to a politicisation of the judiciary, in fact the opposite is probably true – despite criticism from Jacob Rees-Mogg and almost all the right-leaning newspapers of the Court’s Article 50 Brexit judgment in 2017.
It walks a tightrope of not being influenced by external pressures, be that from government, politicians or the media, all while trying to ensure it is transparent and accessible as part of its mission of upholding the rule of law and serving the public.
So, according to its latest Annual Report & Accounts, in 2022/3 the Supreme Court delivered 98 judgments but it is equally proud of the fact it achieved 66.9k viewers of its YouTube feed over the year and sat in the city of Manchester as part of its regional outreach beyond London.
Compared to the US where support for their Supreme Court is at an historic low, the confidence of UK citizens in our Supreme Court is healthy. 51% of US citizens had an unfavourable view of the US Supreme Court this summer according to Pew Centre Research, with increasing numbers seeing it as conservative and 42% saying it had too much power. A 2023 Office for National Statistics survey found that 62% of people in the UK trust the courts and judicial system. More specifically, an Ipsos poll published in June 2022 found that 60% of people had confidence in the UK Supreme Court to do its job.
So as the Supreme Court marks its milestone anniversary today, we applaud its work and its commitment to technical brilliance as well as to communication of its independence and transparency. The reputation of the highest justice available in the land depends on it. In an era of chronic underfunding in the lower courts, the Supreme Court stands out as a beacon of excellence, of which the country can be proud. That is something worth celebrating.
By Louise Beeson
01 October 2024
