State of the Judiciary: In Contempt of Judges

The legal uncertainties and legal disputes raised by Brexit have indirectly led to a growing use of judicial review and a more assertive judiciary. The tenth anniversary of the United Kingdom Supreme Court (UKSC) – officially set up in October 2009 – was a time to look back on its work reflecting on some of its key rulings as well as on its constitutional position. A special series of lectures were delivered by a judge from each of the four nations - represented in the Supreme Court – in November and December 2019 to reflect on the court’s work over the last ten years (2009-2019). The first Welsh speaking judge of the UKSC David Lloyd-Jones entitled his lecture “Wales: Law in a small nation.” That very year Brexit gave proposal to “ensure that it [judicial review] is not abused to conduct politics by another means or create needless delays” – as written in the 2019 Conservative manifesto. Such a proposal, they fear, would seriously undermine judges’ check on the lawfulness of the acts and decisions of the executive as well as judges’ authority.