Tomorrow, August 2, the Supreme Court of India will begin hearing oral arguments in the case concerning Article 370 of the Constitution. The changes made to Article 370 through measures that commenced with a presidential order issued nearly four years ago, on August 5, were, by all accounts, seismic in proportion. Amendments were made to make applicable the entirety of India’s Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). The State was also sundered into two Union Territories: J&K and Ladakh.
These decisions were made at a time when the State was under President’s Rule with no elected Legislative Assembly in place. Both in the lead up to the events and in the months following them, sweeping limitations were placed on civil liberties in the region. But the Court has already made it clear that what it will consider is not the consequences of the measures adopted but their legality. In other words, the question that it will strive to answer is whether as a matter of law the decisions made on Article 370 are ultra vires the Constitution.
