Lawyers take aim at Lord Neuberger’s constitutional law know-how
You can always count on the legal Twitterati to speak up when they see something they don’t agree with, and last week it was Lord Neuberger fueling their fire.
Lawyers David Allen Green and Carl Gardner — two of the most prominent presences in the legal Twittersphere — took to social media on Friday to take a swipe at the president of the Supreme Court, calling him out on his apparent lack of constitutional law knowledge.
It all started when Green accused Neuberger of “trolling us”, by suggesting that the UK has “no constitution”, just “constitutional conventions”.
The President of the @UKSupremeCourt is trolling us.
ht @ProfMarkElliottpic.twitter.com/wzFMsoJZnD
— David Allen Green (@DavidAllenGreen) February 26, 2016
"Britain does not have a constitution"
– Yes it does, do you not understand constitutional law?
"I am President of @UKSupremeCourt"
– Oh
— David Allen Green (@DavidAllenGreen) February 26, 2016
He then asked former government lawyer Gardner — who has long taken exception to Neuberger’s constitutional law know-how — to get involved in the spat.
@carlgardner Please can you tweet that the President of the @UKSupremeCourt doesn't understand constitutional law?
It will make our Friday.
— David Allen Green (@DavidAllenGreen) February 26, 2016
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Gardner duly accepted and the pair continued to take swipes at Neuberger’s position in a series of tweets, tagging the official Supreme Court account in all of them.
@DavidAllenGreen I don’t think he even believes we have a constitution. @UKSupremeCourt
— Carl Gardner (@carlgardner) February 26, 2016
When Green asked the fellow blogger whether he thinks Neuberger is “wrong on constitution law”, Gardner rose to the challenge and replied “course he is”. He even went as far as to describe two of the Oxford educated justice’s most prolific judgments — Evans and Nicklinson — as “hopeless”.
@carlgardner So do you think the President of the @UKSupremeCourt is wrong on constitutional law then?#GoOnSaySo
— David Allen Green (@DavidAllenGreen) February 26, 2016
@DavidAllenGreen Course he is. And his Nicklinson and Evans judgments were hopeless. @UKSupremeCourt
— Carl Gardner (@carlgardner) February 26, 2016
@carlgardner Yay!!! \o/
I just wanted to see the tweet where you said President of @UKSupremeCourt does not understand constitutional law.
— David Allen Green (@DavidAllenGreen) February 26, 2016
It clearly isn’t just Green and Gardner — both of whom regularly blog on public law developments — that have strong views on the justice’s impression of the UK constitution. A number of other prolific lawyers jumped on board, some being less than sympathetic to Neuberger and his approach.
@DavidAllenGreen @carlgardner I wouldn't say President is wrong, he just has his own concept of a 'constitution' (incl j review of statutes)
— MikołajBarczentewicz (@MBarczentewicz) February 26, 2016
@DavidAllenGreen @UKSupremeCourt he's still wrong. It may not be written but it's a constitution. Try breaking some of its traditions …
— Reid of Leman St (@LPValentine) February 26, 2016
@DavidAllenGreen @UKSupremeCourt @ProfMarkElliott Parliamentary sovereignty is not a convention! He'll be mixing up the EU and ECHR next.
— Aileen McHarg (@AileenMcHarg) February 26, 2016
Update 12:31pm Tuesday 1 March — David Allen Green has posted a blog going into more detail about the views expressed in the tweets: ‘The Provocative President of the Supreme Court’.