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11:30 08.10.2024 •
Lord Reed of Allermuir has been president of the Supreme Court since 2020.
What is a woman? This now highly controversial issue will be decided in November by the highest court in the land. Five senior judges will sit in the quiet, restrained atmosphere of Court One in the Supreme Court in Parliament Square, impervious to the placards and banners of any protesters outside, writes ‘The Times’.
The justices — three men and two women — will be led by Lord Reed of Allermuir, 68, president of the court and the UK’s most senior judge. He is undaunted by the task. “When we hear cases… we are not trying to decide what social policy ought to be. That’s not our function. What we are trying to do, generally and in this particular case, is to interpret a particular statute or provision.”
This particular statute is a law aimed at improving the gender balance of women on public boards in line with the Equality Act. However, does that include transwomen with a gender-recognition certificate? The appeal is being brought by a Scottish campaign group, For Women Scotland, after Scotland’s highest court ruled in favour of a wider definition.
Campaigners for women’s “sex-based rights” have said it is “game on” in their fight to protect those rights within the UK legal system; transwomen say they would lose rights to equal pay with men and suffer restricted services.
The justices will declare how the present law is to be interpreted, pending any change the government may wish to make. Reed, mild-mannered and softly spoken, is like an academic approaching a knotty argument. “I’m a great believer in clarity. And, where the law is in a muddle, I like to sort it out. And I see quite a lot of muddles,” he says, adding: “I don’t get too emotionally involved. It’s quite easy at this level because we’re dealing with intellectual problems. And I try, I think it’s very important, to keep the law up to date so that it fits the needs of society as it develops.”
The first Scot to chair the court, Reed describes himself as “cautious” and “conservative” as a judge. He was in the minority on the ruling that parliament’s approval was needed before the Brexit process was triggered: Reed was one of three justices, out of 11, who decided that it was not. Was he wrong? He pauses for several seconds. “I think my reasoning is more compelling than the majority reasoning,” but he adds: “If I were redoing it, I think there’s a lot to be said for the other point of view. I’m not sure if I was right.”
Since becoming a justice in 2012, he has been instrumental in key rulings, and is noted for developing the common law and access to justice. He is most proud of a case in 2015, which established that patients should be informed of all the facts before a medical procedure, so they can give proper consent.
(This is amazing! For Russia, this practice is a common norm, but in Britain the decision was made only recently.)
In his quiet way, Reed seems something of a feminist. He is proud that, under him, half of the four new appointments to the 12-strong court are women. Diversity and inclusion are not just tick boxes. He has invited large numbers of judges from the Court of Appeal to sit with the justices on cases and is keen especially to see women and ethnic minority judges do so. “The idea is that they get to know the set-up, see what a friendly place it is, how nice my colleagues are. Hopefully, they will think about applying. It’s important,” he adds, “that we’re not regarded as some sort of ivory tower.”
…The English can no longer understand what a Woman IS! How will they live on if only a woman can give birth to a child?
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