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It has been a busy week for the Supreme Court – as the end of term prompted a flurry of important judgments on areas as diverse as the artistic qualities of Imperial Stormtrooper helmets, the employment status of arbitrators, and the implications of the collapse of the Lehman brothers. School is now out for the summer, and the Supreme Court can take a well earned rest and focus on the appointment of two new justices to replace Lord Rodger and Lord Brown. In other news of judicial appointments – Lady Justice Hallett has been appointed the vice-president of the Queen’s Bench and Rabinder Singh QC has been appointed to the High Court bench.
It is bad news for pie throwers everywhere, as Jonathan May-Bowles, the comedian who threw a foam pie at media mogul Rupert Murdoch, has been convicted of assault and causing harassment, alarm or distress. The hearing was adjourned for pre-sentencing reports until Tuesday August 2, when will he return to court to be sentenced. Meanwhile, Lord Justice Leveson, appointed by David Cameron to look into the fallout from the phone-hacking scandal, has outlined the scale of the inquiry. He said he would have powers to compel named witnesses to attend and would be discussing the extent to which he could investigate media wrongdoing before criminal inquiries were completed with the director of public prosecutions. He warned that he may not be able to complete the first part of the inquiry within the planned timescale of a year because its goals had been widened “quite substantially”.
In the same week that the Chair of the PCC is expected to resign, it successfully compelled the Sun to print a front page retraction of a story the paper ran earlier this year concerning allegations that a judge had been investigated by the Office of Judicial Complaints for being drunk while hearing a trial. The judge complained to the PCC about The Sun’s interpretation of the story. Though based on fact, it was altogether more biased and sensationalised than reports elsewhere. The OJC concluded its inquiry and cleared the judge. Once that process was completed the PCC prevailed on The Sun, at the judge’s insistence, to have some front page reference to his having been exonerated.
The challenges to government cuts continue. Following pressure from a number of sources, including from London Mayor Boris Johnson, Jonathan Djanogly, the Justice Minister, has announced a concession to put some immigration domestic violence cases back within the scope of legal aid. He told the public bill committee that the government would table an amendment to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill to enable claimants with cases under the immigration domestic violence rule to receive legal aid.