The Supreme Court officially opened today! It has been said however that the judges within the Supreme Court are due to be faced with scrutiny regarding who they are and their backgrounds...is this right? Maybe, because when the House of Lords was the highest court within the UK the public were unaware of the Law Lords and may have held biased opinions of them based on romours they had heard. But the judges from the Supreme Court have under gone a selection process to which they have been questionned very closely in regards to their political choice and their interests. Due to the public, for the first time, being able to observe cases by broadcasts and watch the judges at work, I think people should have concern for the characteristics of these judges within the highest court.
In The Times today Lord Phillips stated that; ‘the object [of the Supreme Court] is to give formal effect to an important constitutional principle – separation of powers, by transferring the function of the highest court from technically being a function carried out by Parliament, to a function carried out by a court of judges’.
Although I do believe the Supreme Court will have many advantages, I do wonder if this change will bring any advantages to the law itself.
Thanks - very useful to note that.
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