Merit-based elevation to the bench

Perhaps it is the aversion for an unaccountable elite club of aggressive and oppressive untouchables, that motivated Lord Bingham, the former Senior Law Lord with the House of Lords, to intone, “There are countries where the judges always agree with the government, but they are not countries in which anyone of us would wish to live.”

I have been watching with keen interest the grilling of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson by the Senate Judiciary Committee of the US Congress. The committee comprises 22 Senators, some of whom have earned their appointment to the committee because of their strong legal background. History is in the making as Judge Jackson is the first black woman to be nominated for the Supreme Court, thanks to Joe Biden’s fulfilment of the promise he made on his campaign trail.