\u201chas been culturally appropriated \u2026 for ideological and political ends\u201d.<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cThis assertion is false and no basis for it is made in the judge\u2019s address,\u201d Mr Myers said, pointing out that High Court judges and other distinguished Australians who had spoken at society events were giving their own views, not those of the society.<\/p>\n
One of Australia\u2019s most respected barristers, and almost certainly the richest, Mr Myers has built a personal fortune in agribusiness and real estate holdings, making him one of the few figures in the legal world unafraid of directly criticising a High Court judge.<\/p>\n
Mr Myers noted that Justice Beech-Jones had been invited to speak at the Samuel Griffith Society\u2019s upcoming conference in August but had declined because he did not participate in \u201cpolitical gatherings\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf that is the case, he should not himself venture in the field of \u2018political\u2019 debate, especially about matters relating to the High Court, including its decisions construing and applying the Constitution,\u201d Mr Myers said. \u201cIf the judge is worried about being embroiled in pol\u00aditical \u00addebate, then he need only confine himself strictly to the performance of his judicial \u00adfunctions: No speeches, no \u00adpapers \u2013 just do your job as a judge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Justice Beech-Jones\u2019s combative speech appears to have been directed at his more conservative High Court colleague judge Simon Steward, who has \u00adaddressed the society\u2019s annual conference three times.<\/p>\n
The jousting has set tongues wagging in chambers around the country, with some speculating Justice Beech-Jones might be pitching his credentials to the Albanese government in anticipation of the pending retirement of Chief Justice Stephen Gageler in July 2028.<\/p>\n
Some lawyers wondered whether, in mounting the broadside, Justice Beech-Jones was doing the bidding of Chief Justice Gageler, who sits at the more progressive end of the bench on implied rights such as the implied right to political freedom.<\/p>\n
Mr Myers asked: \u201cDid (Justice Beech-Jones) discuss these views, indeed any part of his remarkable departure from accepted judicial behaviour, with the Chief Justice or other judges of the court before delivering his address?\u201d <\/p>\n
The Australian asked Chief Justice Gageler a series of questions, including whether he had seen a copy of the speech before it was delivered and whether he shared Justice Beech-Jones\u2019s views about the Samuel Griffith Society but received no response.<\/p>\n
Mr Myers rejected Justice Beech-Jones\u2019s claim that the \u00adpapers presented at the society\u2019s meetings were \u201cthe papers of a pre-social media echo chamber\u201d, asking whether that included members of the Judge\u2019s Court who had spoken at society events. <\/p>\n
It was also wrong, Mr Myers said, of the judge to suggest that students who participated in the society\u2019s affairs \u201cmay be dis\u00adadvantaged by doing so\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe power of the office of High Court judge must be used only for the purposes of performing the duties of that office,\u201d he\u00a0said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf it is used otherwise, the court is brought into disrepute and citizens are inhibited in \u00adexpressing opinions or failing to do so for fear of judicial dis\u00adapprobation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Myers said Justice Beech-Jones was \u201cfretting\u201d about the Samuel Griffith Society telling university students that the High Court was not doing a good job of interpreting the Constitution, but such debates were necessary. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe says that judicial decisions can \u2018be criticised\u2019 but not in a \u2018tenor, tone and uniform direction\u2019 that he does not like. Too bad. If you do not like criticism, write more persuasive reasons for judgment.\u201d <\/p>\n
Justice Beech-Jones called the society\u2019s promotion of student chapters at universities \u201cominous\u201d and appeared to suggest the Samuel Griffith Society, like the American Federalist Society, was advocating for a \u201cpoliticised and political process of stacking courts with supine judges\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf anyone thinks this particular US style of court stacking and judicial decision-making is a good idea, then go and live there,\u201d Justice Beech-Jones said in his speech. \u201cThe rule of law appears to be having an interesting time in that country.\u201d <\/p>\n
However, Samuel Griffith Society executive director Mia Schlicht told The Australian the society had received \u201cenormous support\u201d in the wake of Justice Beech-Jones\u2019s attack<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are coming forward, saying this is the exact reason why we need the Samuel Griffith Society to speak about why constitutional conservatism is so integral,\u201d Ms Schlicht said.<\/p>\n
Responding to criticism by Justice Beech-Jones that the \u00adsociety was fighting culture wars, Ms Schlicht said: \u201cLook at every other single legal body, all of them on the left. Tell me that they aren\u2019t also fighting the culture wars. The society is just more overt about it. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand that law is a part of culture, but for him to single out just the Samuel Griffith Society and not acknowledge all the other legal institutions that are also part of these culture wars, I think that just speaks for itself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In an extraordinary swipe, silk Allan Myers has hit back at claims by High Court judge Robert Beech-Jones…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2521,19954,124,19936,19925,22,23,133,21,19938,19935,19950,19930,5050,1933,19933,19949,19939,19200,19931,19934,19940,19927,19943,19937,19942,119,135,120,5538,19928,19926,19948,19945,19944,19951,19941,19946,19952,19929,19953,19932,19947,117,7201],"class_list":["post-20892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-aaron-francis","tag-allan-myers-kc","tag-america","tag-american-federalist-society","tag-annual-conference","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-austrlia","tag-blunt-message","tag-constitutional-conservatism","tag-court-chief-justice","tag-culture-wars","tag-david-geraghty","tag-executive-director","tag-extraordinary-swipe","tag-growing-disquiet","tag-interesting-time","tag-jane-dempster","tag-judicial-decision-making","tag-judicial-decisions","tag-judicial-disapprobation","tag-judicial-functions","tag-justice-stephen-gageler","tag-legal-circles","tag-media-echo-chamber","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-oceania","tag-picture-david","tag-political-gatherings","tag-pre-social-media-echo","tag-progressive-end","tag-real-estate-holdings","tag-right-wing-jurists","tag-samuel-griffith-society","tag-scathing-comments","tag-sir-samuel-walker-griffith","tag-society-events","tag-stephen-rice","tag-student-chapters","tag-supine-judges","tag-top-silk","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-university-students"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}