After Justice Kennedy’s resignation, countries should reform their court systems to be more fair

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Anthony Kennedy will step down from the US Supreme Court on 31 July (EPA)

The impending retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, from the US Supreme Court, at the age of 81 provides an opportunity to examine the nature and function of this court.

Most democratic countries have similar “final” courts, with a supreme court in Britain and a high court in Australia. The similarities are in their format: a small number of members, elected by the country’s leader. The president in the US, the prime minister in Australia, after consulting his cabinet, and in Britain the Queen, following a nomination from the prime minister. The courts handle only a few cases, normally involving national or constitutional laws.

A difference is in their duration, with the US judges appointed for life, although they can retire, whereas the other two countries mentioned have minimum retirement ages in the early seventies – and although they can be impeached, this is a rare occurrence.

The retiring Justice Kennedy is seen as a conservative, although some of his less conservative decisions have been important in a number of social issues such as abortion. Their voting choices can often be predicted, although sometimes they go ‘rogue’ and become a deciding vote – and therein lies a concern.

It is not unreasonable to assume they are selected based on their support of a similar viewpoint as the president of the time and the majority party – they probably need the support of both sections to get the nomination and the confirmation – although once they are in the job they are free to decide as they see best.

A photo of the existing group shows they are not balanced in terms of gender or racial background, which should be considered as most legal systems involve juries of “your peers”. They are generally older, as the position would require experience and an established record.

The balance of viewpoint is generally known, although as the average length of service is 26 years there is an opportunity to attempt to “stack it”, leading to a group that would be judging in a certain way for a long time. To say that the law should be unbiased and exact belies the difficulty of writing laws that cannot be interpreted differently.

This may occur with the next appointment going from a conservative with some more liberal interpretations to a hardline conservative, thus moving the court to a more conservative standing. The appointment of a moderate or liberal judge is not likely to occur.

Should the selection process be broader, an elected position for 10 years or one based on a clear support of both sides of the house with perhaps a minimum of 75 per cent support? These are not easy questions to answer, but consider how much society changes in the average 26 years with a number of equal rights issues being only ambitions in the 1980s.

The candidate must obviously be of the highest standard possible, with a clear history of accurately interpreting the law and enacting it. There are some that worry this may not be the case this time.

Dennis Fitzgerald
Melbourne, Australia

Snowflakes should learn how to get up in the morning

Neurological research suggests that most graduates obtaining a first are “morning people”, while Desmonds (lower second) are generally “night owls”. A contributing fact is that 95 per cent of university exams take place before noon.

Now hungover snowflakes have another grievance: Durham is about to schedule 8am law classes, and other elite universities will surely follow. This is routine in the US and parts of Europe yet Twitter expects a tsunami of protest.

But if university really is a preparation for life, a claim often made in the groves of academe but met with much ribaldry in the real world, undergraduates would do well to get up and grow up – and spend fewer evenings in the union bar.

John Cameron
St Andrews

Britain’s contribution in torture

The parliamentary intelligence and security committee have just issued two reports confirming British intelligence agencies were active in the torture and kidnap of terrorism suspects after 9/11.

Were these those much cited “western values” what the War on Terror was fighting to defend?

Sasha Simic
Hackney

Something missing

We have a garden full of flowers, including several lavender plants. We have a selection of vegetables growing, also in flower... but where are the bees?

S Lawrence
London

Failings of the Conservatives

Every government faces challenges, and our opinions of any one particular government have been shaped by how well they dealt with the problems they faced. Some have been lucky enough to be remembered for the good things they did – the launch of the NHS is clearly a great example of this.

So how will we remember May’s government? I fear the evidence is becoming overwhelming that we shall remember it as incompetent, lacking in focus and just not interested in the future of the nation. Maybe they can still turn this around but I’m not optimistic.

Steve Mumby
Bournemouth

It has been said that every nation gets the government it deserves. I fear that we might also have the opposition we deserve. But what could we possibly have done that was so awful that we were awarded Boris Johnson as foreign secretary?

I implore you all to behave better in the hope that we can turn things around.

Richard Warrell
Devon