Case name: Evans v HM Attorney General [2015] UKSC 21
What’s it all about?
The case involved a failed attempt by the former Attorney General to prevent the disclosure of information that the Upper Tribunal had ruled ought to be made public under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). A Guardian journalist had, ten years ago, sought the public release of the Prince’s letters to the Government. The Upper Tribunal considered the letters and concluded that the public interest in their disclosure outweighed the public interest in keeping them confidential. That is the test under section 2 of FOIA.
It was then that the Attorney General weighed in, issuing a certificate under his little-used section 53 power to prevent publication of the documents.
Mr Evans sought judicial review of that decision on the basis that the AG had made an error of law. The case juxtaposed two important constitutional principles: 1) a member of the government cannot overrule a decision of a court just because he disagrees with it, and 2) parliamentary supremacy. Yet as Lord Neuberger identified, there was another constitutional principle in play when considering the effect of section 53 – legality.
The President of the Supreme Court agreed with the Court of Appeal that in order for there to be reasonable grounds for differing from a decision of the Upper Tribunal it would have to be shown that there had been “a material change of circumstances since the tribunal decision or that the decision of the tribunal was demonstrably flawed in fact or in law.” The certificate was quashed.
Law Lessons 4 Life 