Neuberger claims politicians ‘undermined rule of law’ over Brexit court case
Lord Neuberger, supreme court president. Unjustified attacks on the judiciary risks undermining our society, he says [Image: David Levene for the Guardian].
‘Lukewarm’ Liz, as part of her job, must uphold the independence of the judiciary, must defend that independence, must not seek to influence judicial decisions, must provide support to allow the judiciary to exercise their functions, and must give the public interest proper regard in matters relating to the administration of justice.
In short, when the newspapers scream that judges are “enemies of the people” for upholding the law of the United Kingdom, Liz Truss must – as Justice Secretary – publicly rebuke them.
Former Lord Chief Justice Lord Igor Judge has already claimed that Ms Truss broke the law by failing to speak up for 48 hours after the Daily Mail made its outrageous claim.
Now, it seems Lord Neuberger is agreeing.
His words are a huge vote of ‘no confidence’ in the cheese-sucking Truss, who has no legal experience and came to Parliament after being a member of the think tank Reform.
But who do you think the Daily Heil will support?
Britain’s top judge has spoken out about media attacks on the judiciary and the failure of politicians to stand up for judges after the Brexit court challenge.
Lord Neuberger, the president of the supreme court, said some of the vitriol directed at the high court judges after they ruled against the government in November was “undermining the rule of law”.
Politicians “could have been quicker and clearer” in their defence of the judiciary, he added in an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday.
When three high court judges ruled that parliament should have a say in triggering article 50 to leave the EU, they faced intense criticism from some sections of the media, including a Daily Mail front page describing them as “enemies of the people”.
The justice secretary, Liz Truss, faced fierce criticism for being slow in defending the judges against the media attacks.
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Why should anyone be considered as breaking the law for not standing up to a bunch of legal professionals, it’s not as if they get everything right, they are far from perfect on a subject matter they profess to be experts in. The Judges all had a vote on the referendum the same as everyone else, as did the politicians, in the rule of law there is one man one vote not some people having the right to overule the majority.
Ms Truss’s duty was not to stand up TO these judges; her job was to stand up FOR them.
Their job, by the way, is to uphold the law impartially. Your comments on their personal views are therefore immaterial.
And the rule of law is not subject to a vote; you can’t choose to disobey a law if you don’t like it.
I would like to know what practical steps, if any, are they going to do about it?
Depends who appoints new judges. Neuberger is in my view apolitical. He sees the Judicial’s role as keeping a check on the Administration of the day ( The Executive) to ensure their actions, or intended actions, are lawful and if not to say so. One of the outcomes of Brexit has been to promote the fallacy that the will of the people can not be derailed even it is unlawful. Slippery slope stuff.
If he thinks the media attacks on the judiciary was bad just think how Jeremy Corbyn must feel at times