Democracy and the Supreme Court: judges and the politicians

Contributor(s): Dr Paul Apostolidis | The settled position of law and the judges in our constitution has undergone very severe stress testing over the last five years, through Brexit and coronavirus. Those two crises demonstrate the dominance of the executive, who as coronavirus demonstrates can change the law at will if circumstances demand it, and the dominance of politics – if the politicians don’t like the limits set by the law they will not only change the law, they may change the constitution to neuter the judges. How much at risk is the rule of law? And what should we do about it? Has politics prevented us from defending the rule of law? The lecture will set out the threat which is real, the consequences which are dire, and the steps we can take both to form a coalition which defends the rule of law and the specific constitutional changes needed to embed the rule of law. Charlie Falconer (@LordCFalconer) is an English qualified barrister and partner based in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s London office. The former UK Lord Chancellor and first Secretary of State for Justice spent 25 years as a commercial barrister, becoming a QC in 1991. Paul Apostolidis is Associate Professorial Lecturer and Deputy Head of Department for Education in the Department of Government at LSE. This discussion was hosted in partnership with Benjamin Franklin House, the world's only remaining home of Benjamin Franklin open to the public as a museum and educational facility. The Department of Government (@LSEGovernment) is a world-leading centre for study and research in politics and government. Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEDemocracy