Law According To A King

The US Supreme Court is likely better known to readers than any other court on the planet. Its hyper-politicised confirmation hearings, nation-changing judgments, and larger-than-life characters have thrown the Court to the forefront of national and international news and consciousness. Whereas in the UK, gay marriage could be attributed to the support of the Prime Minister David Cameron and his coalition partners in the Liberal Democrats, in the US, it is attributed to the Court's 'liberal' wing and the swing-Justice Kennedy - just one example of the difference between the two systems. Nevertheless, whilst Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Brett Kavanaugh may have captured your attention, there are still seven more judges on the Court that you need to know. To illustrate their approach to constitutional interpretation, I have included a very brief analysis of their positions on four key issues: abortion rights, LGBTQ+ rights, executive power, and campaign finance reform. ...

The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom is far less known than the US Supreme Court, and is far less politicised in its appointment mechanisms, and so the Justices who make the most important judicial decisions in the country are often forgotten, even by law students. As such, I have written brief biographies of the twelve Justices who make up the Supreme Court, and listed some of their more famous judgments, which I urge you to read to gain an understanding of how they think and their judicial philosophies. So, here goes...  Lady Brenda Hale  Hale became President of the Supreme Court in September 2017, succeeding Lord Neuberger, after a distinguished career as a judge and an academic. She sat on the High Court for five years, the Court of Appeal for a further five, and then joined the House of Lords Judicial Committee (the precursor to the Supreme Court) in 2004.  A Cambridge graduate, Hale mostly practised in family and social welfare law, teaching these su...