In August 2022, Sir David Richards and Lord Lloyd-Jones were respectively appointed and reappointed as justices to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. With the recent retirements of Lady Jill Black, Lady Mary Arden and Lady Brenda Hale, the highest court in the land has once again returned to having only one female judge.
Observers over the past decade have noted certain improvements being made towards judicial diversity in the UK. Black was named as supreme court justice in 2017, Arden in 2018, and more recently, Lady Rose, in April 2021. Hale, who became the first woman to ever sit on the court in 2009, broke further ground when she was elevated to the role of president in 2018.
When the current president, Lord Reed, took over from Hale during the first year of the pandemic in 2020, he said that the lack of diversity among judges, in terms of both gender and ethnicity, could not “be allowed to become shameful if it persists”. Despite this laudable stance, it is undeniable that in 2022, the diversity of the court has indeed declined.
