Separation, schmeparation???

I’ve been blogging quite a bit recently on Separation of Powers, as we’re teaching it as part of Sources of Law. It’s widely accepted that our system is far from perfect as far as this goes. However, today’s story in the Guardian is a frightening example of, perhaps, how power is still actually wielded in the back corridors of Whitehall and the Courts. Read on for more details, the letter in question and a video clip.

Even in a judgment that in itself is critical of the Government and has ruled their refusal to disclose information on allegations of MI5’s complicity in torture unlawful, it turns out that parts of the Court of Appeal’s judgment were changed after representations made by the government’s lawyers!

Whilst it seems that the judgment may now be re-worded again to reflect its original contents, the fact that this can happen at all calls into question the idea of separation of powers as well as the independence of the judiciary.

You can read the letter in question here. A great way to get your students to question much-vaunted ideas like judicial independence and the separation of powers.