Begum's Hopes Dashed Again
A court held today that Shamima Begum can be deprived of her British citizenship.
The case is an emotive subject thanks to heightened media attention so there is limited value in going over the rights and wrongs of her potential return to the UK. Instead I think it is better to explore the legal decision and find out what this tells us about the role of the courts when it comes to these sensitive issues.
In particular, there is a question to be asked about how much the courts should involve themselves.
On the one hand, they could distance themselves from the question entirely and trust politicians to make sound decisions. On the other, they could insert themselves totally and overrule any decision they do not agree with.
Clearly neither of those propositions is very sensible but they represent two ends of a spectrum and, in practice, judges all sit somewhere along that line. Some are more likely to intervene while others are more reticent.
In this case Mr Justice Jay certainly showed a great degree of reticence to overturn the decision made by the Home Secretary.