UK justice secretary backs judiciary after criticism over lack of support

British justice secretary Liz Truss has praised the president of the UK supreme court, David Neuberger, after the judge appeared to criticise her for being slow to defend the judiciary from media attacks. Lord Neuberger said that some of the media reaction to a high court ruling last year on article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon had undermined the rule of law.

Lord Neuberger said that when newspapers attacked the three judges who had ruled that Theresa May needed parliamentary approval to trigger article 50, politicians were slow to come to the judges' defence.

“I think they could have been quicker and clearer. But we all learn by experience, whether politicians or judges. It’s easy to be critical after the event. They were faced with an unexpected situation from which, like all sensible people, they learned,” he told the BBC.

Ms Truss faced criticism at the time when she failed to criticise newspapers that targeted the judges after the ruling. The Daily Mail published pictures of the three judges under the headline "Enemies of the People".

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‘Delighted’

On Thursday, however, Ms Truss said she was “delighted” that Lord Neuberger had spoken out about the role of the judiciary.

“It is right that everyone understands the importance of its independence and the rule of law in a free society,” she said.

Lord Neuberger, who steps down in September, said that politicians were swifter in coming to the supreme court’s defence when it upheld the high court’s ruling on article 50. He said, however, that judges in general had not been well treated by the media.

“One has to be careful about being critical of the press, particularly as a lawyer or judge, because our view of life is very different from that of the media. I think some of what was said was undermining the rule of law,” he said.

“The rule of law, together with democracy, is one of the two pillars on which our society is based. And therefore if, without good reason, the media or anyone else undermines the judiciary, that risks undermining our society. The press and the media generally have a positive duty to keep an eye on things. But I think with that power comes the degree of responsibility.”

Approved

In a separate interview with the Financial Times, Lord Neuberger criticised a call from the pro-Brexit Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith for British supreme court justices to be approved by MPs, just as their US counterparts are approved by senators. The supreme court on Thursday began taking applications for three new justices and Lord Neuberger expressed the hope that the new intake would add greater diversity to the court. But he said it would be "very unfortunate" if Britain introduced political scrutiny of the appointment of judges.

“First of all, I wonder what would be asked of the judge and what the benefit would be,” he said. “If you are a decent judge, your political views will be put on one side when you go into court.”