This post, composed immediately after judgment was handed down in this important case on 21 December 2016, encapsulates my reaction to it. Its possible implications for the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, for the other “bulk powers” used by UK intelligence agencies and others, for the developing case law of the European Court of Human Rights and [...]
This Working Paper, presented in Florence as a Distinguished Lecture at the European University Institute's summer course on EU law in July 2015, explored Britain's ambivalent relationship to Europe and gave five reasons why a vote to leave the EU - a distant possibility as the polls then stood - was a likely (though regrettable) outcome of the promised [...]
I had the great honour of giving the annual address at the annual Suffolk Justice Service in Bury St Edmunds Cathedral on 12 March 2017 - at the conclusion of my final term as Independent Reviewer, and just a few days before the attack in Westminster presaged the UK's worst year for terrorism since 2005. The two previous addresses, by Supreme Court [...]
As my six-year tenure as Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation drew to a close, I spoke quite a bit to media about the job and my conclusions. A selection is here. Film about the Independent Reviewer's work for BBC2's Daily Politics, March 2016 Podcast of interview with Joshua Rozenberg for Law in Action, November 2016 Webcast [...]
I lectured to the Hart Judicial Review conference in December on recent developments in the case law concerning terrorism, surveillance and extremism. My handout is here and the accompanying PowerPoint presentation is here.
The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 became law on 29 November, when it received Royal Assent. It is currently being brought into force in stages. This post, originally composed on 3 December 2016, is my big-picture reaction to the Act, which was influenced by my reports A Question of Trust (June 2015) and Report of Bulk Powers Review (August [...]
The report of my Bulk Powers Review, which I delivered to the Prime Minister on 7 August, was published to Parliament (in unaltered form, and without redactions or confidential annex) at 11 am today. Web and print versions of the report are on the gov.uk website, and a PDF copy of the report is here: Bulk Powers Review – final [...]
Lord Carlile, David Anderson, Max Hill On 1 March 2016, BBC2's Daily Politics screened a 5-minute film about my work, made on location in London and Bolton, and an unusually long and varied interview (clips still available). The film, which also features my predecessor Lord Carlile QC, is a good introduction to the work [...]
Introduction “A Question of Trust”, the report of my Investigatory Powers Review under DRIPA 2014 s7, was laid before Parliament today. It can be accessed below in print and web accessible versions, together with the accompanying press release and (so far as the authors were willing for it to be published) the evidence [...]
Terrorism was commonplace prior to 9/11: yet the years since then have seen an unprecedented growth in anti-terrorism law. This paper suggests that some of the conventional justifications for terrorism-specific laws are overblown, and that such laws need to be justified by the particular demands of policing and prosecuting this type of crime. An appropriate definition of terrorism, together with a culture of [...]
